If the BAFTA Game Awards nominations for 2022 are anything to go by, Sony’s PS5 has had the better of the opening skirmishes in the new-gen battle with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X console.
In the nominations for Best Game, three of the six titles – Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Returnal and Deathloop – are only available on PlayStation consoles.
Forza Horizon 5 – is the only first-party Xbox-exclusive game to be nominated by BAFTA for the best game of the year. The list is rounded out by the multi-platform It Takes Two, and PC-exclusive Inscryption.
Given the Xbox One vs PS4 battle was largely decided by the sheer quality of the PlayStation-exclusive games available throughout the generation, the BAFTA nominations bode well for Sony’s plans for continued dominance.
Of course, this is only one awards ceremony. Microsoft will argue that it’s still early in the battle, and the likes of Halo Infinite and Pyschonauts 2 probably deserved more consideration from the Academy.
Arcade racer Forza Horizon 5 did receive five more nominations alongside the Best Game nod. Those include noms in the British Game, Family, Game Design, Multiplayer, and Technical Achievement categories.
Psychonauts 2, the adorable 3D platform, got nominations for Narrative, Music, Game Beyond Entertainment, Animation and Artistic Achievement too.
However, Housemarque’s Returnal, the PS5 exclusive game, has seven shots at awards overall. They are for Best Game, Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Game Design, Music, Narrative, Original Property and Technical Achievement.
39 games in total have been nominated ahead of the in-person ceremony on Thursday 7 April at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London. You’ll be able to watch on BAFTA’s social channels. There’s also a public vote for Game of the Year, if you wish to vote for your favourite.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
