Creator of Fable, Populous and Theme Park to receive Fellowship at the March ceremony.

While the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has been honouring video games and their developers since 1998, it was not until 2007 that leading game creators were put on the same level as leading lights in the other creative arts. This was marked by Will Wright receiving a BAFTA fellowship–the highest honour the Academy can bestow.

After the awards’ hiatus in 2008 the next developer to be inducted was Nolan Bushnell in 2009, followed by Shigeru Miyamoto in 2010. This year, the honour is to be bestowed on Peter Molyneux. The 51-year-old founder of Bullfrog and current head of Fable studio Lionhead is the first British developer to receive the honour.

“We are delighted to be honouring Peter at this point in his long and successful career in video games. He is one of the leading figures in the development of video games as an art form and an inspiration to the next generation of creative minds,” said BAFTA’s chief executive, Amanda Berry.

Molyneux’s credits include games such as Populous–which popularised the God Game genre–and Dungeon Keeper, as well as Theme Park and more recently Microsoft’s Fable series. He is also to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, which are set to happen alongside GDC in San Francisco next week.