British Academy Games Award for Game Design


The British Academy Video Games Award for Game Design is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It is given in honor of "the best game design that captivates and engages the player", including recognition of elements such as game mechanics, use of controls, level and world structure, and pacing. The award was first given at the 8th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony, held in 2012, with the Valve title Portal 2 winning the award.
Since its inception, the award has been given to eight games. As developers, Ubisoft Montreal have received three nominations. The most nominated publishers are Sony Interactive Entertainment with eight, followed by Ubisoft with four, and Annapurna Interactive and Bethesda Softworks with three. The most recent recipient of the award is Outer Wilds, developed by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years are listed as per BAFTA convention, and generally correspond to the year of game release in the United Kingdom.
Indicates the winner

Multiple nominations

Developers

The following developers received two or more Game Design nominations:
NominationsDeveloper
3Ubisoft Montreal
2Arkane Studios
2Blizzard Entertainment
2FromSoftware
2Media Molecule
2Nintendo EPD

Publishers

The following publishers received two or more Game Design nominations:
NominationsPublisher
8Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Interactive Entertainment
4Ubisoft
3Annapurna Interactive
3Bethesda Softworks
3Nintendo
22K Games
2Blizzard Entertainment
2Electronic Arts
2Rockstar Games
2Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment