It has been two years since Swen Vincke walked onto the stage at The Game Awards 2023 in Los Angeles, but nobody has forgotten the drive and dedication behind the man who helped steer Baldur’s Gate 3 to the top. Now the Larian Studios boss is weighing in on the 2025 Game of the Year lineup, and he is not obsessing over whether Expedition 33 wins or whether ARC Raiders is missing – he is simply proud to see such a wide range of games, all made with passion, sharing the spotlight regardless of budget.

Two years after that memorable night at The Game Awards, Vincke has firmly established himself as one of the industry’s most respected voices, both for the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and for his willingness to speak frankly about how the business is evolving. This time, his attention has turned to the list of 2025 Game of the Year nominees. Rather than nitpicking who is in or out, he has used the moment to congratulate his fellow developers and underline how refreshing it is to see so many different kinds of games vying for the top honor.

As fans already know, Geoff Keighley’s main category did not hold many shocks this year. The GOTY shortlist contains the usual suspects, such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, along with more divisive choices like Death Stranding 2. Streamer Shroud, for instance, has not hidden his disappointment at the absence of ARC Raiders, which some players felt deserved a place among the contenders.

In A Stacked Year, Passion Projects Stand Out

For Vincke, such debate is not really a problem at all. In a message he shared on X, he emphasized that this year’s nominees come from studios that approach game development in very different ways, with distinct creative philosophies and production methods. To him, that mix is proof that the medium has not narrowed itself to a single formula or a handful of dominant genres, but still leaves room for radically different design visions. As he put it, this variety “reaffirms the creative richness of the medium in a particularly competitive year”.

The Belgian developer also stressed that seeing such a range of projects in the same category shows that the industry still knows how to recognize “games that entertain and are made with passion”, no matter how big the team or how large the budget might be. That comment naturally ties into the ongoing debate over whether Expedition 33 was truly built by just a few dozen people, which is still a tiny fraction of the manpower behind productions like Death Stranding 2 or Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. In Vincke’s view, all of this ultimately “brings us back to the essentials”, putting talent and commitment ahead of financial spreadsheets and projected sales curves.

Unsurprisingly, his remarks have gone down well with players, especially among those who hold Vincke’s opinion in high regard after the impact of Baldur’s Gate 3. Many users try to push him to reveal which game he would personally pick as GOTY or which title he would drop from the list, but he has so far stayed neutral, choosing instead to highlight positive aspects rather than stir up yet another pointless argument. In a climate where awards shows regularly spark controversy and fan wars, Vincke prefers to keep the focus on creative diversity and the passion that goes into making these games in the first place.

Source: 3djuegos