BAFTA Game Awards 2026: Clair Obscur Leads With 12 Nods
The 22nd BAFTA Game Awards ceremony is set for April 17. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads all nominees with 12 nominations. Here's the full breakdown.
The gaming world's biggest awards ceremony in the UK is just days away. The 22nd BAFTA Game Awards takes place on April 17, 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London — and it's shaping up to be one of the most competitive years in recent memory.
Leading the charge is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the French turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive that took the gaming world completely by storm last year. The game enters BAFTA night with 12 nominations — more than any other title — and comes in already carrying GOTY hardware from both The Game Awards and the Golden Joystick Awards.
The Full Nomination Breakdown
Here's how the top nominees stack up by nomination count:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — 12 nominations
- Dispatch — 9 nominations
- Ghost of Yōtei — 8 nominations
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach — 7 nominations
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — 6 nominations
Clair Obscur is nominated across an impressive range of categories, including Best Game, Game Design, Narrative, and Artistic Achievement. The game's performances are also drawing significant attention — both Ben Starr (as lead character Verso) and Jennifer English (as Maelle) are nominated for their leading roles, while Charlie Cox and Kirsty Rider have also received nods for supporting performances.
That kind of acting recognition for a video game is still relatively rare, and it reflects how seriously Sandfall Interactive took the storytelling craft with this project.
The Competition Is Stiff
While Clair Obscur has the most nominations, it's far from a sure thing. Dispatch, the squad-based action thriller that caught many critics off guard, pulls nine nominations and has a very real shot at disrupting the night. Ghost of Yōtei — the follow-up to the beloved Ghost of Tsushima — brings eight nominations and a passionate fanbase behind it.
Death Stranding 2 with seven nominations shows that Hideo Kojima's unconventional sequel resonated deeply with BAFTA voters, even if mainstream opinion on it was more divided. And Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's six nominations are a strong showing for what many dismissed as a licensed game — proving that MachineGames delivered something genuinely special.
The Fellowship Award
Beyond the competitive categories, this year's ceremony will honor Ilkka Paananen, CEO and co-founder of Supercell, with the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship. Supercell is responsible for some of the most enduring mobile games ever made — Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars among them — and the Fellowship recognizes his lasting contribution to the industry.
The BAFTA Fellowship is the organization's highest honor, and seeing it go to a mobile gaming pioneer is a meaningful acknowledgment that mobile is no longer the industry's awkward cousin.
How to Watch
The ceremony streams live on the official BAFTA YouTube channel on April 17. If you want to follow along in real time, that's your best bet — it's free, accessible worldwide, and BAFTA has historically kept the stream high quality.
For those in London, the event is being held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. It's always been one of the more intimate and genuinely celebratory awards shows in gaming, with less of the corporate pageantry that can weigh down other ceremonies.
What to Expect
All eyes will be on whether Clair Obscur can sweep — or whether a challenger upsets it in the big categories. Dispatch and Ghost of Yōtei both have the pedigree to pull off a surprise win, and BAFTA voters don't always follow the same logic as The Game Awards' audience voting system.
Either way, April 17 promises to be a great night for gaming. Set a reminder, tune in, and find out which games history will remember as the best of their year.