David Braben: Fellowship 2015

David Braben OBE, Frontier Developments founder and co-creator of Elite, received the 2015 BAFTA Fellowship at the British Academy Games Awards.

Braben received the BAFTA Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding and exceptional contribution to games. His previous work includes; Elite, RollerCoaster Tycoon and Thrillville.

As the creative force behind Raspberry Pi, the low-cost British computer, he’s inspiring a new generation to learn to program.

“With Elite recently celebrating its 30th anniversary, David Braben’s enthusiasm for the medium remains as undiminished today as it was back then,” says Harvey Elliott, chair of BAFTA’s Games Committee.

“David is a genuine pioneer, not just in terms of game design or cultural significance but also in the field of computing, having championed the Raspberry Pi that recently became the most successful British computer of all time. The Academy Fellowship could not be more appropriate.”

Braben received the Fellowship at the British Academy Games Awards on Thursday 12 March at Tobacco Dock in London.

Braben has been called “one of the most influential computer game programmers of all time”. His career in games kicked off in 1982 when he co-authored the ground-breaking galactic trading game Elite. In 1994 he founded British video game developer Frontier Developments to take his games to a new level.

More recently he’s worked to nurture new programming talent. In 2012 he helped launch  Raspberry Pi, a charity-backed compact computer designed to help children code and develop their own games.

Braben received a standing ovation when he took to the stage to be presented the Award by fellow games industry legend Ian Livingstone. In his acceptance speech he suggested that the games industry is on the “cusp of a golden age”.

“I am absolutely delighted to be receiving a BAFTA Fellowship – it’s an incredible honour.

“I have a truly great team behind me at Frontier, and without them I would not be receiving this, so the honour is effectively for all of us”, he said.

Awarded every year by the Academy, the BAFTA Fellowship is the highest accolade given to an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or TV.

Previous Fellows include Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick and Judi Dench.

For more inspiring stories from the world of film, games and TV explore our BAFTA Award Stories section.