Baldur’s Gate 3 may have won Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2023, but, controversially, they were barely given time to speak. Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has revealed what he wanted to say, if given the chance.
Vincke posted to X/Twitter in a lengthy thread sharing his thoughts and thanks for Baldur’s Gate 3‘s multiple wins. In his post, Vincke acknowledged the truncated speech time for awards but thanked the Game Awards team for the event. Primarily, he focused his thanks on departments that rarely receive kudos for their achievements. “Team QA, team localisation, team customer support, team operations, team publishing, team play testers, and every other developer at Larian, BG3 wouldn’t exist without you and you all deserve to be very proud of this.”
The Game Awards received backlash for rushing the winners through their speeches. The treatment of Larian’s GOTY speech got particular notice from fans online. After the awards, a video surfaced showing Vincke receiving a “wrap it up” warning as he thanked his late coworkers. Vincke once again paid homage to those they’d lost in his tweet, along with thanking his late father. “I want to dedicate this award to the friends and family members we lost during development including Jim, our lead cinematic animator who passed away last month and personally to my father who passed away the week before we launched our early access campaign,” he wrote.
Vincke also acknowledged the mass lay offs by Hasbro, the parent company of Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast. According to Vincke, most employees who worked with Larian on Baldur’s Gate 3 are no longer with the company. “I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go,” he stated. “It’s a sad thing to realize that of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left. I hope you all end up well.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 took home six awards after eight nominations at the Game Awards. Besides Game of the Year, it also won Best RPG and Best Performance for Neil Newbon as Astarion. The Game Awards also received flack for playing Newbon off while thanking fans that took solace in the game.
