No BAFTA for Red Dead Redemption

By Fred Dutton Published 14 December, 2010

Rockstar declines to put game forward.

Despite the fact that Red Dead Redemption will near the top of many gamers' best of 2010 lists, the open-world blockbuster won't be taking home a BAFTA early next year.

CVG reported that the game does not appear in any of the category longlists for the 2011 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards ceremony.

A spokesperson for BAFTA explained that the game was "eligible for the awards" but Rockstar had "decided not to put the game forward for consideration".

Given that Rockstar seemed happy to pick up a gong for its brilliant western epic at the Spike awards last weekend, this seems a rather peculiar decision. We've asked the developer for more information and will update if it decides to comment.

This year's BAFTA Videogame Awards is due to take place in London on 16th March. Batman: Arkham Asylum cleared up at last year's event, stealing Best Game and Best Gameplay from underneath Uncharted 2's nose.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • charming_fox #1 1 year ago

    More importantly... Where are my Ladies Goods I ordered?!

  • Alex_976 #2 1 year ago

    What's wrong with them? It's a sure winner.

  • Oh-Bollox #3 1 year ago

    What's a BAFTA when you've won a Spike Game of the Year award?

    Who the fuck are Spike?

  • trooperdx3117 #4 1 year ago

    In fairness are the Bafta awards for games are a bit of a joke, I remember back in the 2007 awards they nominated Kane and Lynch for game of the year before it even came out and of course it turned out to be a right stinker

  • the_merchant #5 1 year ago

    I love Arkham Asylum....Just had to say it

  • the_merchant #6 1 year ago

    I love Arkham Asylum....Just had to say it

  • SniperZoz #7 1 year ago

    one of the best games ever .... BAFTA would have been nice

  • whizzedout #8 1 year ago

    LOL Spike over BAFTA? I really like the time slot of the video game awards on Spike, was broadcast between " Deadliest Warrior" and "Look at my Fake Tits" yeah that's a real quality channel that, confirming the stereotype much Spike?

  • rotmm #9 1 year ago

    @the_merchant

    Twice

  • metalangel #10 1 year ago

    Who the hell cares about the BAFTAs at all?

  • danathjo #11 1 year ago

    Protest over the shitty treatment of both the gaming and film industry in this country lately? Or mostly just the gaming industry.

  • OriginalSpamcat #12 1 year ago

    Wow. Rockstar have never courted controversy before. And by seemingly choosing Spike over the more well known, bland and MOR BAFTAs, they seem set on a road of nondescript, quiet, publicity shy tedium for the forseeable future.

    @SniperZoz

    One of the best games EVAR??!!?? It's not really though, is it now.

    @Bobby_kotick

    What the hell are you talking about?

  • MattyD #13 1 year ago

    I think they need to pay to put a game forward, which would explain how Kane and LOL got nominated due to Eidos' massive marketing budget. I guess the Housers don't want to part with cash for another trophy?

  • Eraytos #14 1 year ago

    Dont blame them whatsoever, the Baftas are a complete joke. They know feck all about gaming.

  • SniperZoz #15 1 year ago

    @OriginalSpamcat

    Imo It sure is... And it's not just me saying that.

  • Segnit #16 1 year ago

    I don't pay much attention to the Bafta awards but Arkham Asylum was my game of the year last year. And in fact, to me, it is second only to the Super Mario Galaxy's this generation.

    So if Rockstar is staying away from Bafta in protest because they were Uncharted 2 fans and disappointed about last year then they are being a bad sport.

    Also, who is SPIKE?

  • Segnit #17 1 year ago

    @MattyD - "I think they need to pay to put a game forward, which would explain how Kane and LOL got nominated due to Eidos' massive marketing budget. I guess the Housers don't want to part with cash for another trophy?"

    You need to pay to be eligible for an award? If that's true then how comes Bafta awarded Super Mario Galaxy their best game of 2008? Would Nintendo pay?

    Edit:

    Bafta Winners List:
    2009 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
    2008 - Super Mario Galaxy
    2007 - Bioshock
    2006 - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
    2005 - No Awards
    2004 - Half Life 2
    2003 - Call of Duty
    Edited by Segnit at 15/12/10 @ 07:36

  • menage #18 1 year ago

    Batman was good, but UC2 was better.

  • sheldipez #19 1 year ago

    @ trooperdx3117

    The game baftas are indeed a joke - I remember hearing the 2007 nominations and remember shouting "WTF" as I read through them- Kane and Lynch wasn't the only game nominated but not yet released - Crysis, Orange Box and The Simpsons was in that list too and none of them had been released.

    Complete and utter joke. Imagine them dishing out a BAFTA to some unreleased drama/documentary that no one had seen in its entirity.. just wouldn't happen. The thing that got me was that all the games media that reported the nominations yet none of them picked up on the fact so they guess they were right in thinking no one would notice..

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news25...

  • Skurmedel #20 1 year ago

    Isn't BAFTA pretty much who-sells-most-wins?

  • IronCladChicken #21 1 year ago

    @metalangel
    Anyone who wants help video games achieve more mainstream acceptance?

  • Bumbuliuz #22 1 year ago

    Why not get the nods for a great game? Strange thing to do. Instead they went all over the shitty Spike awards.

  • Kaspar #23 1 year ago

    The farce over Kane & Lynch being nominated before it had even been released was purely dowen to the fact that the BAFTA judging panel was stuffed full of senior Eidos executives. At the time, I think 3 out of the 5 judges were directly connected to Eidos.

    At least they didn't have the gall to actually present it with the award.

  • RexRunti #24 1 year ago

    I think people are confusing the early gaming BAFTAs with the newer ones. They used to be a joke with unreleased games getting awards and the rest suspiciously closley following sales figures. These days however they're closer to the film versions with strict eligibility criteria, a panel of judges who know what they're doing and of course a bias towards the British.

    Of course the gaming BAFTAs aren't shown on TV and there isn't really an opportunity to promote current or future games so I can see why the games industry might not be as interested in it as an overly commercial, glitzy promotion tool on a TV channel popular with teenage boys, but if the industry wants to be taken seriously then the BAFTAs are the way to go.

  • jaywalker3010 Verified Mastering Manager, Square Enix #25 1 year ago

    @Kaspar as someone who has judged at Bafta before, if a title IS one of your own you are NOT allowed to partake in that category or have a say.. The nominations are one thing, the actual voting is another..

  • SomaticSense #26 1 year ago

    Considering this is the British Academy of Film and Television awards, it's debatable whether an American developed game should be eligable at all (Rockstar San Diego, remember).

    Also considering that the government is likely to pull support for the British games industry, it could really do with highlighting the British talent in the industry, like the same awards do for British film and telly, and only give the awards to locally developed games, of which there are plenty of deserved winners.

    Instead they'll just give it to fucking Black Ops...

  • king26 #27 1 year ago

    I hope MAG and BFBC2 get their fair share of awards of numerous websites and ceremonies. Both are original and do not copy the sterile COD formula and as a result produce the best two shooters of the year.

  • whoyouknow #28 1 year ago

    I think I know why:

    Because this way they get all the publicity of a BAFTA without having to buy a table or whatever the hell else it costs to send somebody along to look nice and thank people that nobody's ever heard of. They're going to pick up plenty of game of the year awards for Red Dead. Why not turn down a few key ones for the added publicity?

  • Soton4084 #29 1 year ago

    *sigh* I guess this means Black Ops will get it?