Swen Vincke, head of Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios, summed up his criticism of the gaming industry in three minutes this time… and the next day the team started this year’s Advent Calendar!

Let’s start with Vincke’s speech, which literally speaks for itself: “The Oracle told me that the game of the year 2025 will be made by a studio that found the formula to make it right here on this stage. It’s stupidly simple, but somehow it gets lost. A studio makes a game because they want to make a game they want to play. They made it because it hadn’t been made before. They didn’t make it to increase market share. They didn’t make it to serve the brand. They didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets or fear being fired if they didn’t.

Furthermore, the powers that be forbade them from stuffing the game with anything that didn’t serve the game design and was only there to increase sales. They didn’t treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet. They didn’t treat their players as users to be exploited. And they didn’t make decisions they knew were short-sighted as a function of a bonus or a policy. They knew that if you put the game and the team first, the revenue would follow. They were driven by idealism, and they wanted players to have fun, and they realized that if developers didn’t have fun, no one would have fun. They understood the value of respect, that if they treated their developers and players well, those same developers and players would forgive them when things didn’t go as planned. Most importantly, they cared about their games because they loved games. It’s as simple as that!

Winning Game of the Year was a life-changing event for us. It was an amazing thing. For those who win Game of the Year in 2024, you have no idea what you’re in for. It’s an incredible honor, and you’re in for one hell of a ride. And remember, if they tell you to wrap it up for tonight, you can always come back next year and chat for three minutes,” said Vincke, referring to the fact that he was cut off after three minutes last year.

As we prepare for a long rest,
One last gift we give, the very best!
Twelve days of wonders, music, and cheer,
Poems and treasures, all drawing near.
Play now, adventurers, don’t delay,
Unlock your gifts, starting today!

A Very Larian Christmas, now online:… pic.twitter.com/tbdAsZjf37

— Larian Studios (@larianstudios) December 13, 2024

Let’s move on to the Baldur’s Gate 3 Advent Calendar, which promises 12 days of wonder, music, and cheer, as well as a little hint from the team about the next game. Aoife Wilson, the studio’s Senior Communications Director, pulls out a large box from under the tree with “Larian’s next game” written on it, then Vincke comes in from the left, pushes Wilson away, forbids her to open it, and then apologizes to us. He says this game needs a little more time in the oven, and when it’s done it will be huge, so we’ll just have to wait until then.

This is of course a joke and doesn’t reveal anything about the game, but Vincke admitted back in August that he was horribly wrong about the length of his games, and Baldur’s Gate 3 got so long that it had to be cut. However, it looks like we’ll be spending 100 hours on this game as well…

Source: PCGamer