We’ve covered The Game Awards at length here on the site. However, one thing we didn’t talk about was how in order to make room for all the game trailers, acceptance speeches were cut short. Even the Game of the Year winner, Larian Studio’s Baldur’s Gate 3 couldn’t have a moment to shine. I think that’s too bad given its boss was absolutely shining that night.
Swen Vincke, dressed in armor that night, got up on stage to only have 30 seconds before he was rudely interrupted. I mean, I guess we needed to see the orchestra with the fully animated flutist. He wasn’t the only one, but with the award was the last one, why not let it go?
The Speech
That didn’t stop Vincke, though. He took to Twitter to share the whole speech with the world.
Winning Game of the year is a great honour and I want to first thank everyone that voted for us and I want to congratulate all the other nominees. This has been an incredibly competitive year and you each would have deserved to win this award.”
Swen Vincke via Twitter
He singles out Capcom and Remedy for their GOTY nominees, Resident Evil 4 and Alan Wake 2, respectively. Then, The Game Awards was given praise “for creating an award show so big that it gets mainstream attention.” I mean, it got attention, but not for the things it was hoping for.
Vincke then thans the Baldur’s Gate 3 community, the dev team, and the over 2,000 people credited on the game. He specifically mentions the QA, localisation, customer support, operations, publishing, and playtesting teams. I’m glad to see this because a lot of these folks would have gone unnoticed otherwise. They are usually also the first jobs to get cut.
Baldur’s Gate 3 wouldn’t exist without you and you all deserve to be very proud of this.”
Swen Vincke via Twitter
There were mentions of his father passing before the game hit early access in 2020 and Jim Southworth, Larian’s lead cinematic animator who passed recently.
The Dungeons & Dragon team was also mentioned. For those who don’t know, Dungeons & Dragons is published by Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast is owned by Hasbro. Hasbro recently suffered layoffs.
I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go. 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.”
Swen Vincke via Twitter
He ended on this:
I want to end with a story of a conversation I had a long time ago with a publisher. 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. Thank you.
Also, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now out on Xbox.”
Swen Vincke via Twitter
Source: IGN
