BAFTA GAMES AWARDS 2026 NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

Following the success of the 21st BAFTA Games Awards earlier this year, BAFTA today opens entries for the 2026 edition, with key dates, updated entry requirements and voting rules confirmed today.

The BAFTA Games Awards celebrate the very best games of the past year and the talent who make them and recognise the outstanding creativity and technical achievements of individuals and teams working in games every year.

Unlike other industry awards, the BAFTA Games Awards are voted for by an expert membership of over 1,400 experienced professionals and are watched by millions online. Content from the 21st BAFTA Games Awards on 8 April 2025 achieved over five million views (and an additional 2.2 million views across the awards season), in a ceremony that saw Astro Bot take home five BAFTAs including Best Game, Still Wakes the Deep take home three and Thank Goodness You’re Here! crowned Best British Game.

A cross-industry BAFTA Games committee reviews the awards’ eligibility criteria, voting and campaigning rules annually to ensure they are robust and fair, and that they evolve with the ever-changing industry landscape.

Key changes for 2026 include:

Voting

• As our membership grows, we are creating more craft chapters for voting, bringing it more in line with our Film Awards. Thanks to the growing expertise of our games voting membership, members with craft experience in art, audio and performance roles will now vote in Round One of the Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, and both Performance categories. Previously, the full BAFTA Games membership voted in these categories in Round One.

Key dates, announced today are as follows:

• Monday 11 August 2025: Entries open
• Thursday 6 November 2025: Entries close
• Tuesday 9 December 2025: Longlist revealed
• Thursday 12 March 2026: Nominations announced
• Friday 17 April 2026: Ceremony

Tara Saunders, chair of the BAFTA Games Committee, said: “It’s always a special moment when the entries open for the BAFTA Games Awards. Reflecting on the success of the last awards and all the amazing games celebrated, it spotlighted to me the incredible resilience, collaboration, and creative brilliance across the games industry. As games continue to explore storytelling, design, and innovation, BAFTA’s is here to champion the teams and individuals whose talent and dedication deliver extraordinary experiences to players around the world. With this year’s updates to rules and voting, we’re continuing to evolve how we recognise excellence across every corner of the industry. I’m excited to see all the brilliant work that will get celebrated in 2026.”

Entry is open to all developers and publishers for games released between 16 November 2024 and 14 November 2025, with an entry deadline of Thursday 6 November 2025.

Entry Information 

BAFTA is calling for all developers to register games into the Awards within 30 days of a game’s release. This allows BAFTA’s voting members – experts from all across the games industry – enough time to discover and play all games entered in the awards ahead of voting, levelling the playing field across a wide range of games.

Any developer, publisher or studio that has released a game since 16 November 2024 is encouraged to register it into the Awards by 11 September 2025 to benefit from half-price entry fees. The discounted rate is also available to entrants registering their games within 30 days of release in future.

Only basic details are required to register a game into the awards, within 30 days of release. Entry is half price (£220 + VAT) within that period. The standard entry fee is £440 +VAT. Full entry details will then need to be submitted by Thursday 6 November 2025 to finalise the entry.