BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has released a longlist of its candidates for its Games Awards 2025 categories but clarified that DLC such as Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will be ineligible for the big awards. This follows a bit of controversy after Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards revealed that Shadow of the Erdtree was eligible for its biggest awards including Game of the Year.
BAFTA recently confirmed that DLC is eligible for the Evolving Game Award category and in certain craft categories only but it won’t be allowed as a candidate in Best Game and Best British Game, the two biggest categories of the show. Furthermore, remasters will not be considered while remakes will only be selected for craft categories. BAFTA members will begin voting for the big nominations in January 2025. Thereafter, nominees will officially be announced on 4 March 2025.
BAFTA released its longlist for games in consideration for the Best Game award in 2025. Note that this is just a longlist and not the actual nominations, which will be narrowed down in the coming months:
- Animal Well
- Astro Bot
- Balatro
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Helldivers 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Thank Goodness You’re Here!
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
58 games are on the longlist to receive at least one nomination across 17 categories at the BAFTA Game Awards. They are as follows:
- Animal Well
- Astro Bot
- Balatro
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Batman: Arkham Shadow
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Botany Manor
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Cat Quest III
- Crow Country
- Diablo IV
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- EA Sports F1 24
- EA Sports FC 25
- Factorio
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Final Fantasy XIV Online
- Frostpunk 2
- Harold Halibut
- Helldivers 2
- A Highland Song
- Hitman World of Assassination
- Indika
- Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop)
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
- Lego Horizon Adventures
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure
- Little Kitty, Big City
- Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Minecraft
- Neva
- No Man’s Sky
- Pacific Drive
- Paper Trail
- Planet Coaster 2
- The Plucky Squire
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Sea of Thieves
- Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
- Silent Hill 2
- Star Wars Outlaws
- Star Wars: Hunters
- Stellar Blade
- Still Wakes the Deep
- Super Mario Party Jamboree
- Tactical Breach Wizards
- Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
- Tekken 8
- Tetris Forever
- Thank Goodness You’re Here!
- Tiny Glade
- UFO 50
- V Rising
- Vampire Survivors
- Vampire Therapist
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
- World of Warcraft
It seems like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree won’t be part of the festivities for this gaming awards show. The BAFTA Games Awards 2025 will take place on 8 April 2025.
Source: Video Games Chronicle