Rockstar games, the studio behind the Grand Theft Auto series, is being honored for their achievements in the gaming industry with a Bafta Fellowship Award, according to The Guardian.
The gaming studio will receive their honor at the Bafta video game awards in London on March 12. Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser, and Grand Theft Auto developers Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut are expected to accept the honor for the company. The company has launched in 1998.
"We have long believed in the potential for videogames to become a new form of cultural expression and worked to show that in our games, so for us accepting the BAFTA Fellowship is incredibly humbling," Sam Houser told The Guardian. "This honour reflects the creative vision and dedication of a huge number of people over many years, and we look forward to accepting the Fellowship on their behalf."
Rockstar joins a long line of studios who have been honored with Bafta awards for their achievements in the gaming industry.
"Previous recipients of the video game fellowship include Will Wright, the creator of Sim City and The Sims, and Shigeru Miyamoto, the designer of the Super Mario and Zelda games," The Guardian reports. "The accolade will be presented as part of a refreshed British Academy Games Awards ceremony, which will be open to the public for the first time, and includes a showcase where many of the nominated titles will be playable."
Grand Theft Auto V has been the most successful title in the franchise to date. The game was released last September and earned more than $1 billion in revenue three days after its launch, according to IGN. The game has reportedly sold more than 32 million copies since its release, making it one of the most successful video game franchises worldwide.
