The 2021 BAFTA awards have just been announced, netting Sumo Digital and Sony XDEV Europe two awards. Sackboy: A Big Adventure won best in the Family and British Game categories:
If we had an award for cuteness he’d probably win that too! But for now, the winner of the Family BAFTA is… Sackboy: A Big Adventure 😊🏆#BAFTAGames pic.twitter.com/Ci3sZ44TB2
— BAFTA Games (@BAFTAGames) March 25, 2021
Sackboy: A Big Adventure wins his second of the night, this time in the British Game category! #BAFTAGames pic.twitter.com/ekkqJpzhOh
— BAFTA Games (@BAFTAGames) March 25, 2021
LittleBigPlanet’s branded account, known to be managed by Steven Isbell and other team members, tweeted in celebration of the awards. Pete Smith, Director of Product Development for PlayStation, XDEV, tweeted “So happy. Well done to the whole team.”
Joel Smith, art director of Sackboy: A Big Adventure, said in response to the family award:
“I’m so privileged to be accepting this award on behalf of the incredible team at Sumo Sheffield. We’ve worked tirelessly to create a brand-new adventure for Sackboy. Family is at the forefront of the mind when creating this game and especially in the last eight months. So here’s to the Sumo family and all the other families who have enjoyed being part of Sackboy’s new adventure!”
Later, in response to winning the BAFTA for best British game, Sumo Digital Design Director Ned Waterhouse expressed appreciation:
“I’d particularly like to thank Media Molecule. If it wasn’t for their original vision for this wonderfully endearing character and these handcrafted worlds, our game simply wouldn’t exist.”
The BAFTA Awards, also known as the British Academy Film and Television Awards, are an annual celebration of contributions to film by British and International artists. Video games are also recognized, just like Sackboy: A Big Adventure was this year. Alongside Sackboy were winners such as Hades which won the Best Game award.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure was also nominated for the music category with its highly interactive and gameplay responsive music.
We also caught this interesting exchange during the celebration over the awards where Pete Smith reacted with a cryptic embarrassed emoji to suggestions that the awards meant that there was a LittleBigPlanet sequel in the near future.
😳
— Pete Smith (@pete0151) March 25, 2021
This isn’t an official confirmation, but it doesn’t deny the possibility of a sequel like LittleBigPlanet 4. Whether Sumo Digital will return to the Play, Create, Share format of LittleBigPlanet remains to be seen, but it’s good to hear that it’s not off the table just yet!
Have any theories or thoughts about the awards? We’d love to hear from you in our official discussion thread!
