The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is an independent charity event that was established to help promote and develop the art forms of moving image, which include television, film and video games. Every year, BAFTA gives out the BAFTA Fellowship Award, which is a lifetime achievement award recognizing outstanding achievements in “the art forms of moving image.” According to BAFTA, the Fellowship Award is “the highest accolade bestowed,” and it is considered a great honor to receive the award. Gabe Newell won the award last year, and Peter Molyneux the year before that.
Eurogamer reports that this year, Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut will accept the award on March 12. This is the first time in the history of the BAFTA that the Fellowship Award has been awarded to multiple recipients. The BAFTA Awards will be streaming on Twitch Wednesday March 12, so you can check it out to catch a glimpse of the Rockstar founders accepting the award. This is quite a treat, as the Houser brothers in particular are notoriously reclusive, so it will be interesting to watch them receive the award and to hear what they have to say.
VG247 posted a statement of Sam Houser’s reaction to wining the award. Houser stated that, “We have long believed in the potential for video games 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.”
Houser went on to express how honored he was to be a recipient of the award, and that he would be receiving the award in honor of everyone at Rockstar who have helped out over the years, “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.”
Rockstar games has had an incredible impact on the landscape of gaming. The recently released Grand Theft Auto V was a blockbuster hit, and garnered universal praise from critics. Rockstar has helped in redefining open world games, and the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most popular and influential franchises in video game history. It’s no surprise that the company’s founders are to receive this award, and it is well deserved; they have been instrumental in shaping the medium of video games, and will likely continue to do so for years to come.