Reclusive Rockstar accepts BAFTA Fellowship with speech
"We always try to bite off more than we can chew."
BAFTA game nominees and winners are discounted on Steam at the moment.
Rockstar Games brother-bosses Sam Houser and Dan Houser made a rare public appearance in London last night to accept the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship award on behalf of the 900 other people who work at their company.
Dan Houser's speech capped an evening that saw The Last of Us win five awards, including Best Game, and Grand Theft Auto and Tearaway win three. Gone Home, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, BioShock Infinite, FIFA 14, Size DOES Matter and Papers, Please all won one apiece.
"Thank you," Dan Houser addressed the audience, having been introduced by none other than Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.
"This is a tremendous honour for us as a mostly British-run company, and as passionate advocates of the medium, and also as lovers of British film and consumers as children of almost lethal amounts of British television. This is wonderful.
"We used to watch so much TV in the late 70s and 80s that my closest friend was the Test Card. Now we stand here her equal.
"Rockstar was founded with a mission statement that video games were the next mass-market entertainment medium, that they were uniquely interesting and powerful and that we as a company would serve two masters to prove this fact, combining the production values of movies with an obsession of gameplay above all else.
"Back in 1999, we began shouting this to whoever would listen. A few people laughed at us for our hubris, both in ourselves and in the medium. Most people simply ignored us.
"Now as far as I know, this is the first time BAFTA has given an award to 900 people."
Backstage, talking to BAFTA interviewer Julia Hardy, Sam Houser added: "It's everything to get this recognition from our peers and our friends in the industry, is an enormous privilege for us."
Dan Houser continued: "We always try to bite off more than we can chew. If you don't do that, you're going to do what you did last time. For 13 years we've been making very big games, jamming it onto the hardware harder than was possible.
"The only way we can do that several times in a row, and over this long period of time, is by always being more ambitious than ever seemed sensible."
Grand Theft Auto 5 won the BAFTA award for British Game, Game Design and Multiplayer on the night.
The Last of Us won BAFTAs for Best Game, Story, Action & Adventure, Audio Achievement and Performer, which was awarded to Ashley Johnson for her role as Ellie.
Media Molecule's Vita game Tearaway scooped the Mobile & Handheld, Family and Artistic Achievement BAFTAs.
BioShock Infinite, meanwhile, won a BAFTA for Music.
Gone Home won Debut Game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Game Innovation, FIFA 14 won Sport and Papers, Please won Strategy & Simulation.
This year's One to Watch was Size DOES Matter.
There will be a BAFTA games awards highlights show broadcast on Challenge on 21st March at 10pm.
