GamesRPGBaldur’s GateBaldur’s Gate 3’We don’t have shareholders, but we also don’t think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climateWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGBaldur’s GateBaldur’s Gate 3’We don’t have shareholders, but we also don’t think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climateWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: The DICE Awards / IGN)
Baldur’s Gate 3 walked away from the DICE Awards with another handful of trophies: Outstanding Achievement in Story, RPG of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and Game of the Year—adding to analready massive list of well-deserved accolades.
Its developers, however, devoted much of their speech time to the state of the games industry—which, if you’ve been paying any sort of attention, has been dire for devs. 2023 was a horrible year for games industry layoffs—and if patterns continue, 2024 could be even worse, with over 16,000 developers losing their jobs since January of last year.
Larian Studios' head of production David Walgrave also took to the microphone to share a few words. “We ask you to pay one price only for the game, and that’s it—you can own it for the rest of your life. We don’t have shareholders, but we also don’t think about them. There’s an expression in Dutch—‘honesty lasts longest’, or something.”
“We don’t make decisions where we think ‘this could make us the most money’,” Walgrave continues. “In the long run, building a community, building a playerbase, building games that are actually fun is going to make you the most money, that’s it.”
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Larian Studios doestechnicallyhave a single shareholder in Tencent—which owns around 30% of the company. However, an important piece of context is thatTencent appears to own what’s called a “preference” share, meaning thatTencent doesn’t have voting rightswhen it comes to Larian’s decision making. The rest of the company belongs to CEO and Founder Swen Vincke and his wife.
I’m noting this more for clarifications' sake, rather than to disagree with anything Walgrave said—when we think of the influence shareholders typically have on large gaming companies and publishers, Larian Studios is under no obligation to kiss the ring.
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