John Carmack will be honoured with the Fellowship at the British Academy Games Awards on Thursday 7 April 2016

London, 24 March 2016: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced today that leading game programmer and virtual reality engineer John Carmack will be honoured with the Fellowship at the British Academy Games Awards on Thursday 7 April at Tobacco Dock, London.

Awarded annually, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games.

Fellowships previously presented for outstanding work in games include David Braben OBE, Rockstar Games, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright.

John Carmack is celebrated as a leading voice within computer and game engineering and is one of the pioneers of 3D graphics. For the past two decades, Carmack has driven adoption of many popular techniques that have changed the landscape of gaming, including adaptive tile refresh, raycasting, binary space partitioning and surface caching. He is recognised worldwide as a visionary for the part he played in some of the most popular video game franchises in history.

Carmack co-founded id Software and served as lead programmer on Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and the Quake series. Wolfenstein 3D is credited with developing the standard for first person shooter games, while Doom and Quake helped to propel multiplayer gaming and game modding.

In August 2013, Carmack joined Oculus as Chief Technology Officer where he has been a driving force and champion of the company’s virtual reality technology, specifically on mobile. Carmack has previously been recognised for his considerable generosity to games charities and communities, including his support for promoters of open source software.

John Carmack said: “Receiving a BAFTA Fellowship is a great honour. Over the course of my career, I’ve remained passionate about the potential for engineering and technology improvements to expand the range of human creativity. Graphics, networking, extendable platforms, and now virtual reality; each has enabled magnificent new things that delight millions of people. I am as excited about the future today as I was when I started.”

Harvey Elliot, Chairman of BAFTA’s Games Committee, said: “We are truly honoured to be awarding this year’s Fellowship to the incredibly talented John Carmack. John embodies creativity through all of his work and is a true pioneer in the field of computer engineering. His work in the games industry has spanned more than two decades and the contribution he has made to gaming, from titles such as Commander Keen and Quake to the advocacy and drive he constantly delivers within his work on VR at Oculus, highlights why John is truly deserving of this award.”

The British Academy Games Awards take place on Thursday 7 April, hosted by comedian and TV personality Dara O’Briain and live streamed on Twitch.tv/bafta. Follow BAFTA on Twitter (@BAFTAGames) for all the latest news.

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About BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public. In addition to its Awards ceremonies, BAFTA has a year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – featuring workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes – in the UK, USA and Asia; it offers unique access to the world’s most inspiring talent and connects with a global audience of all ages and backgrounds. BAFTA relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations, trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. To access the best creative minds in film, television and games production, visit www.bafta.org/guru. For more, visit www.bafta.org.