The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has opened entries for the British Academy Games Awards, which will take place on 2 April 2020.

It's made a number of changes compared to 2019's competition.

Most notably, BAFTA will retire the Mobile Game award.

It's the last remaining platform-specific award in the ceremony, with BAFTA claiming this will streamline categories and reflect its commitment to celebrating "craft excellence".

The EE Mobile Game of the Year award - funding by sponsorship from operator EE - will continue to be awarded by the public, however.

In addition, the Game Innovation category will be absorbed into a new Technical Achievement award, designed to celebrate all elements of gameplay programming and visual engineering.

More and less

In terms of new awards, an animation category will be introduced to complement the existing Artistic Achievement category.

BAFTA says this will address the important role this skillset plays in creating believable and engaging worlds. The category will cover all elements of animation from player control and ambient animation to facial animation and cinematics.

The Game Innovation category will be absorbed into a new Technical Achievement award, designed to celebrate all elements of gameplay programming and visual engineering.

The Performer category will be split into Performer in a Leading Role and Performer in a Supporting Role, reflecting the diverse range of performed roles seen in games, and bringing the category in line with the BAFTA film and television awards.

Submissions for the awards are now open at http://entry.bafta.org. The deadline for entries is 13 December.