In what many will surely consider a "surprise" or an "upset" or a "wrong choice," the winner of the 14th British Academy Game Awards was neither The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild nor Super Mario Odyssey. It was What Remains of Edith Finch.
For what it's worth (and it's not worth much), I wholeheartedly agree with that pick. What Remains of Edith Finch was my very favorite game last year. It uses an interactive medium to tell a tight and meaningful story. It's creative and unique and important. But, Zelda and Mario haven't lost many award shows this year, so the choice is interesting and unexpected.
However, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has its roots in other formats. Maybe it values different qualities than other organizations (like GDC and DICE) value. Well, the past three winners of Best Game at the BAFTAs were Destiny, Fallout 4, and Uncharted 4. Looking at the history of this category, it's actually kind of incredible a studio as small as Giant Sparrow was able to take home this hardware.
Here are the nominees and winners from this year's BAFTAs:
via destructoid https://www.destructoid.com/bafta-names-what-remains-of-edith-finch-its-best-game-of-2017-498392.phtml