LONDON — Dara O’Briain, an Irish comedian, appeared in a tuxedo on a YouTube live stream on Thursday night and announced the start of the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards, celebrating the best video games of the past year.

“I’ve hosted these awards many times before,” O’Briain said, “usually from some plush concert hall in the middle of London.”

“Not tonight!” he added, with a smile. “Tonight, these awards in their entirety will take place in the room in my house with a big telly in which I play video games.”

O’Briain then warned that his cat might wander into the shot “every so often.”

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a host of the world’s biggest award ceremonies being postponed or canceled, with rules on social distancing making it impossible to gather several hundred nominees and guests in a room.