Something very strange happened at the video game edition of the BAFTA’s\u2014Britain’s largest award show\u2014tonight. In the show’s only esports-specific category, a mobile game that can only generously be considered an esport beat out some of the biggest names in the industry.<\/p>
That’s right: Clash Royale<\/em>, Supercell’s mobile-strategy game, won the “esports audience award,” besting League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Dota 2<\/em>, and Street Fighter V<\/em>. Even the game\u2019s nomination raised eyebrows<\/a> in February. There were high-profile games with much stronger esports followings that missed out on the nomination, including Hearthstone<\/em>, another mobile game.<\/p>
More importantly there’s also the major conflict of interest at the very heart of the award show: BAFTA\u2019s newly-appointed vice president of games, David Gardner, is an investor<\/a> in Supercell, Clash’s<\/em> developer. <\/p>
