BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has been a staple in British pop culture for decades. The aim is to acknowledge, prop up, and award outstanding storytelling and contributions to film, television, and gaming arts and fight for their rights to express their craft. Moreover, BAFTA has been instrumental in inclusion and diversity in the industry, pushing for accessibility and, as per their website, “remove barriers to opportunity so all talented people feel empowered to enter the industry, carve out the careers they aspire to, and have their work seen and recognised for its artistic merit.”
BAFTA Has Named The Most Influential Game
The BAFTA awards are world famous, and one of the most influential award shows in the industry. Unlike other award shows, BAFTA primarily uplifts British pop culture, although they also award games and films from across the world. They have become leaders in the industry, a powerful entity that helps artists grow, learn, and improve so that all can achieve their goals. One of the keys to their success is their democratic dissemination of information and awards, so all voices feel heard. This was also the case in their most recent poll to name the most influential game of all time.
There were many iconic games in the running, including DOOM and Super Mario Bros. The game that won this distinct honor, though, was Shenmue. The game, released in 1999, is an action-adventure open-world game produced by Sega and released originally for Dreamcast. The major gameplay decisions the team made attracted a loyal following, pushing additional games in what ultimately became an entire franchise, even after Sega no longer produced gaming consoles.
To BAFTA voters, several design choices made this game so influential. It was one of the leaders in how to create an open-world, one that laid the groundwork for decades of games to follow. It also made use of QTEs (Quick Time Events) that helped the game achieve popularity, challenging players with quick actions and influential major franchises to follow suit. Adding in cinematic storytelling, a day and night and weather depiction, and smart use of non-playable characters that drew players in, it felt like a life simulation as much as an adventure game.
Final Thoughts
These choices carried a legacy in the gaming community. Open-world games have attempted to build a similar level of immersion ever since. Two of the best modern open-world games out there currently, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, utilize many of these features that Shenmue popularized. QTEs and open worlds are common place in the gaming industry now. It was Shenmue that showed the industry what could come of this genre of gaming, and BAFTA voters were absolutely right to give the game the credit it so rightfully deserves, even among such stiff competition.
