Baldur’s Gate 3 director shares what he ‘wanted to say’ at The Game Awards

After his acceptance speech was cut short, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has published what he “wanted to say” when Baldur’s Gate 3 took home the top prize at The Game Awards last week.

The event drew widespread criticism for only allowing some of the award winners to speak onstage, and permitting them just 30 seconds to do so before urging them to “wrap it up” via a teleprompter.

Baldur’s Gate 3 director Vincke, who managed to talk for about a minute before leaving the stage, elaborated on his Game of the Year award acceptance speech in a thread posted on X today.

He started by calling the award “a great honor” and congratulating all the other nominees. “This has been an incredibly competitive year and you each would have deserved to win this award.”

“I want to thank Geoff Keighley and the people that organized The Game Awards for creating an award show so big that it gets mainstream attention. While 30 secs is a bit short, there’s nothing like the game awards and it’s an incredible achievement.”

THIS IS IT! @baldursgate3 is your 2023 Game of the Year! @larianstudios #GOTY #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/1u5hyGphbc

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 8, 2023

Vincke then discussed his decision to wear armour to the event, which he said was done in tribute to the game’s player community.

“Over 2000 people are listed in the credits and since I can’t call out everyone, I want to focus on a group of people that don’t always get the credit they deserve,” he continued.

“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.”

Vincke also dedicated the award to friends and family members who passed away during its development, including Larian’s lead cinematic animator and his father.

“I want to end with a story of a conversation I had a long time ago with a publisher,” he wrote. “He told me, luckily for them, games are driven by idealism. He meant it in an exploitative way but he was right.

“Games are a unique art form, as important as books, music or movies. Many developers, myself included, make games because they love seeing others engage with their creations in a way only games can offer.

“They don’t care that much about the money made beyond it being the fuel they need to create new and better games. It’s worth reminding everyone that fuel is but a means, not a goal. Whereto and how we journey are what matter and what we remember.

“Thanks you.”

Further reading

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The Game Awards was one of the best – but it should do more

2023 delivered a typically blockbuster show, but saved little time for developers

After its release was held up by several months due to technical issues, Larian’s celebrated RPG launched for Xbox Series X/S to coincide with last week’s The Game Awards, where the title won six prizes.

Alongside the coveted Game of the Year award, it took home prizes for Best Performance, Best Community Support, Best RPG, Best Multiplayer and Player’s Voice.

Microsoft is currently working on an update designed to fix an issue that can result in Baldur’s Gate 3 saves being lost on Xbox Series X/S.