Rockstar Games, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, will be awarded with the BAFTA Fellowship at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards Ceremony for its commendable contributions to the video game industry.
The Fellowship award is the highest accolade given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ in recognition for an “outstanding contribution to film, television or games”.
Gabe Newell from video game company Valve and Peter Molyneux, creator of Dungeon Keeper are some of the previous fellowship award recipients.
In its announcement BAFTA said the reason for awarding Rockstar with the fellowship award is the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as other games including Manhunt, Bully and Red Dead Redemption which kept Rockstar Games “at the forefront of the gaming industry for over a decade”.
“It is Rockstar Games’ revolutionary approach to games that helped bring the medium to the masses, particularly with Grand Theft Auto, one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful game series of all time,” said BAFTA.
Sam Houser and Dan Houser, founders of Rockstar, Leslie Benzies , Rockstar North president and Aaron Garbut, GTA art director, will attend the awards ceremony in London on March 12 to collect the accolade on behalf of Rockstar Games.
Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games, acknowledging the prestigious award said “We have long believed in the potential for videogames to become a new form of cultural expression and worked to show that in our games, so for us accepting the BAFTA Fellowship is incredibly humbling,”
“This honour reflects the creative vision and dedication of a huge number of people over many years, and we look forward to accepting the Fellowship on their behalf.”
Harvey Elliott, chair of BAFTA’s Games Committee added: “It is hugely exciting to be able to recognise the amazing contribution made by Rockstar to the games industry over the past 16 years.”
“The creativity and passion exhibited by the Rockstar teams have inspired a generation of game developers to raise the bar in every aspect of game development.
“From design and mechanics, through to storytelling, cinematics and audio immersion, and in the process creating games that compete so profoundly on a global stage across all entertainment media – Rockstar, this Fellowship is wholly deserved.”
The latest addition to the GTA game series, Grand Theft Auto 5, became the top-selling video game of 2013 selling more than 32.5 million units. The same has also been nominated for Best Game and Game Innovation at the ceremony.
