Baldur's Gate 3 Keeps Winning & Larian CEO Slams Publishers for State of the Industry

[@MrHulthen]

Swen is obviously very angry at the current state of the industry & rightfully so in my opinion. Things need to change.

[@YouTubdotCub]

Between him and Tarn Adams of Dwarf Fortress fame, it gives me hope there are still gamers who care and feel the same outrage we do about the corporate gutting of the industry...even at the top of a few companies.

[@02091992able]

Too many in the industry have fallen to the "woke" agenda. When pandering to those ideals they often alienate and drive away a much larger group of people/customers. That is why they fail other than putting out have baked and broken games. BG3 has worked pretty good for me, even running it off an HDD which cause some texture and object popping when first loading into the game. But it may be that my 2060 Super is just getting worn out and I have already bought a replacement. The latest update caused some random crashes of the game, but I feel they are more likely to fix this issue more than some other developers are. With allot of games pandering to those ideals also diminishes all content of the game. ME Andromeda was that way. They made all of the characters pretty much a copy and paste especially the females like the Asari. They all look exactly the same. They may have done this with the original 3 but they gave different shades to their skin and facepaint to make them look unique. That was weirdly absent from Andromeda. Even of Turians which is strange.

[@skelitonking117]

@@02091992ablenobodies reading that shit mate lmfao

[@randoir1863]

IF the gaming industry Itself would stay true to it's roots and JUST MAKE GOOD GAMES and not fuck around by introducing politics or ideologies into games , then we wouldn't have these problems . MONEY makes the world go round and the ESG loans with the DEI strings attached are the problem !!!! The money required to make , build or innovate anything will always be a problem . People need to get paid for the work they do and money has to come from somewhere to make anything happen . I'm trying to think of something more profound to say , rather than just stating the obvious , but it's way to early for me to come up with that much .

[@LecherousLizard]

Now if only Swen was able to release a game that worked out of the gate, that'd be great.

[@GravenAshes]

I applied to work for larian some years back as a writer. I was fresh out of school and getting either silence or automated rejection letters from 90% of the companies I applied for. Larian took the time to write back to me to tell me they were rejecting me but said they were impressed with my work. I forget the persons name but he was head narrative writer at the time. He actually took the time over multiple emails to read my samples, mark them up, give me tips on improving my writing and encouraged me to apply again. It was the sweetest most unnecessarily kind rejection I have ever received. Anyone who has the good fortune to work for them is truly blessed.

[@TheMasterwitcher]

I feel you with the silence from job application. Ive been going through the same for about 6 months now. Its ridiculous with the current state of jobs and companies being absolutely incompetent when it comes to HR.

[@damien678]

That's so cool of them! You gonna try applying again in the future?

[@GravenAshes]

@@damien678 maybe. If they are ever hiring writers again xD

[@erikwilliams1562]

That's absolutely amazing.

[@MrBluman999]

This is how you run a company.

[@Marshal_Dunnik]

Unlike the founders of Blizzard or Bioware or any number of studios you can name, Sven never sold out to a gigacorp. Larian remains independent. Nor did he take the studio public, it remains a private corporation. All other studios are inevitably crushed under the weight of (usually unrealistic) growth expectations, and imploded by the pressure of quarterly earnings statements.

[@richardyoung3462]

Tencent is actually a 30% share holder in Larian. That money is one of the reasons they were able to make BG3.

[@mategido]

WOW! Such a huge win

[@thecounselingcouch68]

@@richardyoung3462 Yes, Tencent owns 30% of the company. Tencent owns a "preference share" of Larian Studios. This means they have no voting rights when it comes to Larian's decisions. Yes, they backed 2 of Larian Studios games. If the games do well, Tencent does well. This is how business usually works. I'm not understanding how this relates to the point the OP was making?

[@I_saw_that956]

@@thecounselingcouch68how all business investment should be handled honestly. So many terrible decisions/collapsed businesses occur because of these ridiculous growth expectations and pressure from investors.

[@richardyoung3462]

@@thecounselingcouch68 Is Larian worth more now, then when Tencent backed them? Tencent could easily gain much more by selling their interest back to Larian, and Larian would lose that chunk of their available capital, and maybe even need to borrow money to cover, depending on the amount involved.

[@Oozaru85]

Most CEOs of big publishers have no connection to video games. The only game they've ever played is "Monopoly".

[@TWOBITONEGUY]

😂😂😂

[@exnozgaming5657]

😂😂😂🤣🤣 Good One

[@PandoShiro]

some suit with an MBA that has no interest in gaming should def not be in their position to make decisions for the gaming company

[@ytsks]

It's worse than that - in the extreme cases of greedy cnts like John Riccitiello (EA now Unity) are actively looking for new ways to exploit gamers and specifically target kids. Its not that they don't care about games or gamers, quite the opposite - they see you as a resource to be utilized to the fullest. Similarly to casinos only external regulation could possibly stop the greed.

[@naproupi]

Most CEO of any companies nowadays barely understand the product they sell, that's what happen when you only recruit "business school" graduate in management

[@MagnustheRad]

sven doesn't want to win anymore, opens mouth, keeps winning

[@LadyDoomsinger]

An actual case of "winning so much you get tired of winning." Who knew that was really possible?

[@kubawoowio9989]

kinda like with valve. Valve has troubles. Valve does nothing. Valve wins

[@brilobox2]

@@kubawoowio9989 > do nothing > competition keeps shooting themselves in the foot > what is this business strategy called?

[@Evangeder]

@@brilobox2 it's called Gaben

[@CATELlegend1]

I think maybe, just maybe... deep down, he wishes the best for other companies as well. So they can get prizes too. But thats not whats happening, see?

[@EuphoriaDeep]

I wish there were more Swens in the gaming industry.

[@sirderpsalot]

Ikr. Both game developers and consumers would benefit so much.

[@etienne8110]

It s up to us to finance the sven s out there by buying their games rather than the AAA and AAAA shytes...

[@GollumsJealous]

Alas, there won't be. Not in the western gaming industry at least. In a sea of filth, Swen is a true knight in shining armor. A good man, through and through.

[@EuphoriaDeep]

@@GollumsJealous yeah...sad but true.

[@dongarippo7279]

I wish there were only Swen's in the gaming industry!

[@silentagony1019]

I like how Sven had more time to talk for his award than he did during the game awards

[@cashnelson2306]

almost like the game advertisements shouldn’t be taken seriously just because they spent a bunch of money and call themselves “the game awards”

[@almostfaceman]

Gotta say I agree with the guy. Not only is it nicer to the employee's, it's good for the companies that want to build teams they can rely on game after game. I've been laid off and I've been part of small companies that go out of business, so I have felt the struggle first hand. Hope more companies follow this Larian model, I think it's a healthy one, not a merely idealistic one.

[@lilithdvs13]

Employees don't make the games. Companies do. We would not have a videogame industry without, well, the industry. We really need to stop demonizing CEOs for doing their jobs. Firing people is part of the job and a normal part of the business cycle. You want every dev who outlived their usefulness to have a job? Are you gonna pay their salary? Do you want your games to cost $100 from now on?

[@WyntheRogue]

​@lilithdvs13 The fuck you on?! Employees do make the games,without artists,devs,writers,voice actors,etc. You have no fucking game. Most of the CEOs you're trying to defend deserve the heat and criticism they get as they see only the money and not the art and passion of the industry. We need more Svens and less Bobby Koticks [and whatever douchebag runs EA,these idiots openly bash gaming], people who actually care about the industry they work in rather than just money and ONLY money. Most games and other projects end up going to the wayside and failing because of studio interference rather than just taking the leap of faith and letting devs,filmmakers, and animators cook. The sooner we let creative cook so to speak, the sooner we get quality content rather than rehashed,shallow and vapid husks. CEOs make money off the backs of these people only to dispose of them easily, which is one of many reasons corporate greed remains an elephant in the room.

[@LeggoMyGekko]

@@lilithdvs13I don’t think they deserve to be demonized, but I certainly don’t think they deserve to be defended. The way you worded your comment makes me question if you actually listened to the statement made

[@nathannguyen1431]

​@@lilithdvs13 I don't think BG3 cost $100 🤔

[@trorisk]

The old theory that "it is not the producers who produce wealth". But strangely enough, as soon as they go on strike, nothing is produced and the world comes to a standstill. Whereas if there is a strike by the bosses, no one would notice. The prices are about the same. And I'd rather buy a video game that I can play for years to come, and that treats its employees well. What to pay the same price for a game that I stop playing after 3 hours (Suicide Squad) that treats its employees badly.

[@FelipeSilva-bq7dk]

I will buy every single game Larian do, as long they keep doing it the way they do today

[@5Demona5]

With love, passion, dedication, respect to the employees, respect to the players, and so much more

[@NkenKenY]

same

[@lilithdvs13]

Utterly incompetent, broken messes that anger their community so much they get incessant death threats over the broken state of their games? That's the Larian way alright.

[@NkenKenY]

@@lilithdvs13 the only thing i hate about larian games is the repetitiveness its nearly the game every time i play bg 3

[@FelipeSilva-bq7dk]

@@lilithdvs13 Yeah, go check out the new games and have fun. Try Dragons Dogma 2, everybody is enjoyjng the 20 fps, microtransactions and the fact that you can't even begin a new game after the first character you create. That is broken, not Larian games

[@Flippohoyyy]

Swen has proved the world wrong that you can infact have plenty of money and still be a kindhearted down to earth person Salute to him this is what all CEO’s should set out to be more like

[@lilithdvs13]

Except he doesn't have plenty of money. He is a bad business man. The way he runs his business into the ground, being allergic to microtransactions and bloated budgets, BG3 could be losing money for all we know.

[@Flippohoyyy]

@@lilithdvs13 I’ve never in my life seen someone speak up as if microtransactions was a good thing

[@EliBroady-l6k]

I did, "surprise mechanics" comes to mind.

[@Janehaver]

​@@Flippohoyyythis person is such an obvious troll don't feed 😅.

[@Flippohoyyy]

@@Janehaver Yes if i see something wrong i will question it especially if it something as souless as microtransactions

[@TimoRutanen]

The bottom line is that money guys will focus on making money. They are not interested in viability of an industry, they WANT to squeeze the last drop before moving on to their next company. It's what money guys do.

[@gerstein03]

The irony is that if they stopped being so damn greedy they'd make more

[@TimoRutanen]

@@gerstein03They might make more in the long run, but that would be slower than squeezing a company dry Right Now. Slower is of course, worse than fast. Money guys don't start businesses, they get invited in when the business is already running in the hopes that they can bring in investments. Alternatively, they see a successful business and weasel in if not directly invited, so that they can benefit from it.

[@etienne8110]

​@@gerstein03more in the long run maybe. They ll take a sure monthly growth anytime over a "maybe in a few years". They don t care, hedgefunds guys won t be there in a few years. They aren t the sow and ripe type, rather the raid and plunder. And that s for everything, including our ecosystems.

[@Mark73]

Then money guys shouldn't be in charge. Engineers used to be in charge at Boeing. Then there was a merger and money guys got put at the top. Now we've got doors falling off mid-flight.

[@TimoRutanen]

@@Mark73 You are indeed on the right track. Maximizing profit will minimize quality. Or at least will degrade quality to the minimum possible passing standard. Problem is, money guys are good at making money so the investors demand they be in charge.

[@MrMisanthrope84]

I want to work for this man. I'm so tired of the games industry. So so tired. We don't need executive stupidity. We need people like this.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

The worst thing about the layoffs is not that they are happening, it's that there are huge chunks of the gamers community, who are NOT on the side of the developers and think that they deserve being laid off for delivering shitty games. Totally missing the fact that shitty games are in the majority of cases, the fault of the publisher, the bean counters.

[@thecounselingcouch68]

Not to mention, when companies fire people and then have to rehire them. The developers have learned that loyalty gets them nothing and this is just a job. It really just becomes a transactional relationship. Versus, feeling aligned with a company and that the product the company puts out is an extension of the developers. I've worked for companies where the atmosphere is very transactional, I never felt like the work was an extension of myself. The work/product represents the atmosphere fostered by the company. If the product/work was shytty then the atmosphere fostered by the company was shytty.

[@Brandonious15987]

Where? Most gamers don't pay attention to the layoffs. Those that do usually say it's a shame that devs are being punished for poor management decisions. Where are all the gamers saying the devs deserve to be fired?

[@VisonsofFalseTruths]

@@Brandonious15987there’s a very loud minority in certain parts of the internet that like seeing other people suffer. It’s the 4channers, the Redditors. The Venn Diagram of them and people who think Elon Musk is the most victimized person of our generation is a circle. And it has practically zero overlap with people who actually play games. It’s kinda like people who’ve never picked up a Street Fighter game in their lives getting pissy that Chun-Li’s tits aren’t as big. They’re not really worth talking about. They just SEEM like a much larger portion of the gaming community because they have no life and spend their free time bitching about they’ve been interested in to begin with; half of them have multiple accounts. If you pay attention they even slip sometimes and reply to themselves, either in support or to make it seem like there’s a real discussion and not one loser yelling at his reflection.

[@Cottage_Punk]

Well a few months ago, a lot of devs reacted to BG3 success by saying it was harmful to the industry and players should not expect fun and finished games devoid of scammy practices like Larian's BG3 but instead pay more for less content of lesser quality. The reality is not all devs are passionate and dedicated people. As with every industry, a substantial proportion are here just for the pay check (its fine) and hold contempt toward the customers (it is not).

[@jlinus7251]

Sven is a legend. I love how he keeps his company integrity up.

[@Siegdrifa]

Not long ago, he said he refused to open the capital of Larian in order to stay in control 100%. Wise move... when you have to deal with share holders, that's when it goes to shit quality wise.

[@nunya_bizniz]

Imagine working for Larian. Resplendent.

[@adrijenie4105]

not quite sharran

[@chipsalom]

Ok, this guy just went up even several moving damn levels in my admiration of his (even in a powerful place himself) willingness to speak truth to power. You just know he's had these conversations and thoughts long before he had such a great platform. And now that he does, and has had his study and employees winning awards for what they've shown they can do, he's stating the obvious.

[@miguelaromer]

The man is a hero

[@Aki-kh2qe-StreetKidZZZ]

That's why in many of his skits wears his armour

[@Tentacl]

This dude rocks. There is a reason Larian and CPRed are the only devs I trust now - even if CPRed pissed me off with CP2077 release they kept working and working on what not I consider a masterpiece, the same for BG3 - and all for just 60 bucks, no tricks, no FOMO, no nothing.

[@John-996]

CD Project still have share holders they need to keep happy. Warhorse studio are great though.

[@shinzoux5912]

CDPR fumbled the CP2077 release but they're still a great studio. Cyberpunk is amazing, also tons of updates no MTX and an amazing DLC.

[@GollumsJealous]

For western companies, it's really just Larian for me. Love CDPR and Witcher 3 will always be one of my favorites, but unfortunately they're not actually independent and I don't find them relatable at all on a personal level. Larian's the only western company that's genuinely kind to everyone. Swen's got a heart of gold.

[@lcicada]

CDPR? No thanks, they are corporate puppets

[@ricardocalderon9823]

CDPR created the trend of releasing unfinished triple A games to be later patched. Every since CP2077, we have been getting broken games or games that clearly needed more development time.

[@revenant6872]

The biggest difference here is that Swen is a genuine gamer; so he is all about the art. A lot of the people in charge of the big publishers are corporate white shirts and haven't touched a game in their life; they are all about their stock options. I've been ignoring a lot of big name publishers these past few years, and when I look at my recent Steam account purchases, 90% of the titles are from Indie Developers. And I've loved every single game. Baldur's Gate 3 is phenomenal. It's not a game ; it's an epic *experience*!

[@VisonsofFalseTruths]

Dude, same. I have like a handful of studios from I consistently expect quality and am never disappointed. CDPR, FromSoft, Bioware and Santa Monica are the only ones I specifically get excited about. The rest of my recently played for a couple years has been indy.

[@arenkai]

I work as a game designer for a publisher, and something that breaks my heart is how developers start opening up and being super excited once they realise I'm *really* there to talk about their games and ask them questions about design and production-related stuff. It breaks my heart because it means those people have been burnt by publishers so much they always start meetings on the defensive trying to find where the scam is. Which they 100% should... But sometimes I wonder if I'm not on the wrong side of the fence man... I love my job and I want to be the voice of developers from inside the publishing structure, but the money-focused machine is soul crushing at times. One day you laugh with devs at a dinner party, learning about their experience, their hobbies, and how it helps them make great games. And the following day you learn their project will be shut down because the cash flow has stopped so you need to stop talking to them. It sucks. This whole system sucks. We need more devs to come into publishing and change the way this shit is done.

[@VisonsofFalseTruths]

The problem is an obsession with short-term gains. How often has a development company been cut off by their publisher, only to go indy and make a smash hit? That might not be the norm but it isn’t a Cinderella story, either. If investors would learn some patience and keep their damn hands out of the day-to-day ops they know nothing about, and publishers would look for more than just infinite growth in a quarterly report, everyone involved would be significantly more satisfied. We live in a world where companies flush away $10 million next year to make $1 million now. That’s not good for ANYONE; consumers, developers , investors OR corpos. Only difference is the latter groups have golden parachutes.

[@gileadbot19]

This is why Larian is so well loved, and will stay that way in the eyes of their customers. Amazing games and a killer attitude. I'm glad they're still winning. They understand you cannot let a guy who doesn't love video games run a video game company. It turns into an EA or Ubisoft.

[@lucy9698]

Larian is doing good by the people and the sore losers are mad about it because that means they can't get away with their bs anymore. It's high time the gaming community stopped tolerating being mistreated by corporations. We pay your bills, dammit!

[@Jcrobify]

"Metric Shit Ton" Official measuring unit. lol. Dude is totally right about the industry.

[@Fizz-Pop]

Investors understand you gotta speculate to accumulate, so I have to wonder is it them being shortsighted or is it the upper management not having a spine to explain why a 2% loss this quarter could net them 10 times as much in a year or so.

[@lucy9698]

Both. It's 💯 both.

[@YeAuldGrump]

The quick dime vs. the slow dollar. Remember, shareholders typically know next to nothing about what the businesses that they hold shares in do. The quick dollar is their only measure.

[@willlasdf123]

So much of the public markets are purely on a near term EPS based valuation bases, because the vast majority of market cap is held by ETFs and index mutual funds that are constantly reweighting based on these short term metrics. As a result, C suite stock comp is tied to the performance of share price which they understand is heavily tied to things that sway passive index funds. Which is why I'm happy I almost only have to deal with private markets where, but for net working capital and debt servicing, quarterly performance is kind of irrelevant.

[@etienne8110]

Just not the same goals. Money guys want any money as fast as possible. Devs want to take time to grow something. It s as if feudal lords were cutting orchards to sell the wood for a short term benefit. The issue is that we are valuing this shirtsightedness. Évaluations have gone from yearly to quaterly, to monthly now... People making quick bucks even if it destroys the source are promoted and receive bonuses... Modern capitalisme is against the growers. Because gambling earns more than real life investments.

[@mafuletrekkie]

I would love, just once, for these puffed up buissness major's who offer nothing to society who say "If we lay some people off we can bump the numbers up this quarter for the share holders" to just be told: "You know what, you're right! Go talk to Jen down in HR for your severance package."

[@DigitalDamnation]

Employee retention is not only an issue with the gaming studios. Many companies including the one I work for, lay people off only to rehire them back 6 months later. Employees get a big redundancy package and just come back again to their old jobs. It boils down to lazy management; senior leads get a good bonus to show that they are saving money between product releases or a downturn to then say later that the need to hired to support the extra workload. Short vision management which is encouraged by the shareholders.

[@kalaelizabeth]

He's absolutely right

[@Galantus1964]

How dare he.. shareholders NEEDS their bloodmoney

[@02091992able]

Let developers make great games and shareholders make money. Something allot of publishers have forgotten. I may be only 32 but I remember when publishers like EA put out great games much of them, I still have fond memories of. That is because companies back then had people that were passionate about making great games and make money that way. They got old retired and the ones that replaced them became more focused on numbers rather than making products/games that make the money. Quantity over quality also the advent of microtransactions and releasing DLC for everything some of which should be included content. Its toxic. Wolfenstein Youngblood for example had no reason to have microtransactions. But they put it in anyway because well every other game has microtransactions in them. Online games like MMOs need to make money but there is also a fine line between providing a service and hampering a game to the point that you have to spend money or not really get to enjoy the game. Most will just not play.

[@spectre_26]

We need more courageous and visionary people like Swen. I admire him for believing in himself and for lifting people around him up to be the best they can be and to create such masterpieces.

[@Andriej69]

Look at this, Bioware, look Beamdog. Gaze upon the face of GOD and weep!

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

BioWare made the mistake of selling to EA. They should have remained independent.

[@Andriej69]

@@QuotenwagnerianerWell, that ship has sailed and sank long time ago

[@dongarippo7279]

@@Quotenwagnerianer Would have been interesting to see how big Bioware could've become if they didn't do that. To me they were the best of the best back in the day. I would have bought their crunches if they wanted me to :)

[@Talwyn22]

A Fish rots from the head down. This statement applies to the CEO's and senior management of all these major publishing studios. They are the problem and the ones that should be fired without any benefits. While I completely agree with what Swen's saying here, until there's a change at the top of these studios, nothing is going to happen. I suspect that over the next few years, games from major studios are going to massively decline in quality while indie studios are going to blossom because they are releasing decent games. The boneheaded assholes who are in charge of these major studios are incompetent and incapable of actually pivoting simply because their mindset has turned to cement over the years. Their time at the top is over. Shareholders in their companies as well as private investors need to hold these oxygen thieves accountable as they are destroying their companies.

[@kevinamery5922]

Acquire Studio(s). Collect the money from the sales of their next game. Lay off 1/3 of the dev team, load their work on the remaining 2/3, then shrug when another 1/3 quit. Collect bonus for cutting costs. Make everything a live service micro-transaction vehicle. Scratch your head when the follow up games crater. Oh well, at least you got that bonus in step 3, right?

[@25xxfrostxx]

Production and development in the current economic structure can never be "fair". Once a company goes public they are no longer able to put the interest of the customer or their own employees first. They are required to work to increase a number for the shareholder as that becomes the only person that matters. A company with shareholders has essentially given itself slow terminal cancer. Self published and privately owned studios are the only developers capable of taking the proper time to ensure that a product is in a fit state for the customer and making sure that pricing isn't required to be predatory and increase over time.

[@Childofbhaal]

I mean sort of? From Software for example has a lot of games published by Bandai Namco and they slay every time.

[@thx1138tab]

What an inspirational unprepared speech

[@mythmakroxymore1670]

Larian set a new standard. Everyone bitched out.

[@gaelangaudette9576]

Sven is an absolute legend. He's also 100% right about the problems with the industry. Hopefully, the success of Baldur's Gate 3 will light a fire under some asses.

[@AlexFrank02]

Sad about no big story dlcs 😢 I just wish I could experience this game for the first time again

[@HaddaClu]

I also took Sven's remarks to be partially aimed at Hasbro since they ordered the layoffs of pretty much every from Wizards of the Coast's media division that covered video games, shows, movies, etc....

[@darkbeach72]

I'm just so tired of watching game publishers make the same mistake over and over, not listening to their engineers and devs, releasing shit, then releasing apology tweets for said shit. Like he said, chill out, take your time, listen to your devs. Quit treating people like they're ungrateful servants and treat them like the passionate talent that they are.

[@twntwn11]

I have nothing but respect for Sven. Such an upright, amazing person with morals and principles. He doesn't sell out. I hope he will be in good health for many years to come and continue making games he loves. I, for one, are going to play them for sure.

[@SatashiNakamoto]

The reason they are being laid off is because AAA games are dying. They are focusing on the wrong things and making terrible games.

[@DeRizzlo]

He needs to keep winning so we can get another masterpiece like bg3😅

[@brettmelnrick4854]

Thank you for promoting his message and spreading the word!

[@jameswayton2340]

2:15 what a fucking guy man, love him

[@AgeOldCure]

Only just now realized how tall Astarian's VA is.

[@the_ej1970]

I wouldn't mind a 5 year hiatus and produce something amazing for BG3 to give it a send off with new stories

[@yankeefan2k2]

Super based. Spitting facts so hard 🥵

[@FoxySocks]

It is not about this industry even or? I work in a family owned company with long term goals - I just hope they continue with their focus and do not sell out.

[@HunterSentinel]

We NEED studios like Larian. I think people are so starved for a company to trust that we have some seriously sick people latching onto completely untrustworthy companies like Disney.

[@mohawkgarry]

It's just... Sad, that I doubt any of these publishers/shareholders will even see this speech.

[@phoenixastra4429]

I'm so glad he said something all the layoffs betraying your team and hard workers and abandoning them like they are nothing. Also the rise of ai 'generation' and then layoffs in the industry is SUS

[@noblesseoblige319]

He gave a speech of the second best narrative

[@Stforv]

I love how they nicely call it "letting people go" when in reality it's more like "throwing people out to the streets"

[@MietoK]

Capcom didnt clearly listen Sven 😂

[@lcicada]

For real, these idiots :D

[@TheKisj]

This is why independent game developers continue to produce great games

[@Kwayjie]

I hope he never changes no matter how big his studio gets.

[@thescoon1]

Swen is a KING. This shit is so obvious: if you ever find yourself firing a large % of your team due to greed/mismanagement, you will lose the legacy they brought. Blizzard/Diablo is a perfect study on this. Keep the people who are genuinely doing good work, let them become amazing at their jobs, and you will continue to produce quality... like Larian keep doing.

[@ViJt-oq5nq]

Thankfully the place I work for understands the value of employee retention... Even the people at the bottom of the food chain... It's worth holding onto them and building them up as possible. Several of us started at the bottom and learned new skills and got new positions. My boss was the first person hired in our specific department doing grunt work... she made VP this year and is carrying as much of as she can take with her lol.

[@cembaturkemikkiran4109]

A few more guys like Swen, and this industry will change for the better, a lot better. What a true chad.

[@lifegood3322]

Its great to be recognized! I was one of the original creators of the Metric Shit-Ton Measurement System or MSTMS in '72! There was a lot of resistance at the time but it flowed so elegantly eventually the WWMSB had no choice but to except it! There was no cash prize at the time but I did receive a plaque! 🙄😁

[@Void-father]

You also have to take an account that a bunch of people were hired during Covid granted I don’t know if that is still actually affecting people in the same way that I did a crap ton of people were hired around 18k people but still

[@TaliZorah1]

I want larian to get Mass effect and dragon age

[@Demonsouls1993]

im expecting those 2 games to flop

[@GollumsJealous]

I prefer Larian to make their own IP to be honest. Something that belongs to them and them alone. They deserve the world.

[@lcicada]

I think that would be the best. I fear for DA:D..

[@User12347ejdj]

I hear a lot of talk about the big boys losing. But I also see high game and console sales too.

[@Elygo73]

Got teary eyed watchibg this, we need more people like this in gaming industry😭

[@ExJagerJack]

I would like to see Larian Studios iteration on Planescape Torment. That would be so cool.:)

[@RonnieMyers777]

Baldur's Gate 3 has been a... *_CRITICAL SUCCESS_*

[@Polecat54941]

Talking to you Tod.

[@SmellyBodega]

every now and then you need someone to do it right. we've been fed recycled garbage for so long, most companies take for granted the guaranteed consumer.(8-16) its a beautiful thing when people who appreciate product design and quality/ i would pay double for decent content. they treat it like fast food.

[@deusvlad2.083]

If Embracer group is laying devs off, do you think that somehow saints row 2 reboot or remake or remaster will come out? What about the next tomb raider game?

[@raphaelw8s4u]

He is absolutely right, i have been a gamer for over 40 years now and have seen the situation in the gaming industry deteriorate more and more into the complete shitshow it is nowadays. Things really need to go .. ahead back to better days.

[@MrJoshuaAM]

I haven't played it yet. I was originally going to wait for a deal with all the dlcs included. Now it will probably be whenever I feel I have enough time to fully experience it.

[@bruh717]

See that's also what's amazing about the game. Larian said they're not going to release any DLC (though they will continue to patch the game), so you're not missing anything by taking your time and playing it when you can

[@Hoigwai]

I wish his words would work but I know they won't. It isn't just the publisher, it's also the mega-shareholders. They expect profits to endlessly double not just grow.

[@nickrubin7312]

Build "institutional knowledge". Gee, what a novel idea, people that have experience in making specific makes apply their knowledge and iterating within specific genre (see literally DOS1->DOS2->BG3) continuously building on the previous successes you will eventually create something very cool (and sell a lot and earn plenty). Yet, somehow, for the past year or so we saw veteran devs with the said “institutional knowledge” from all the studio being fired. I would be pissed as well, it doesn't make any sense, even from the "making profit" perspective.

[@Niniane_Sparkle]

And now I'm just gonna buy any other larian game, even if I have no interest in playing ❤

[@BARelement]

Protect that man. Y’all love forgetting things like what happened to the Boeing whistleblower. We praising this man now, but I hope we don’t have to be sobbing at any point over this. I’m not wishing anything, but we as a people HAVE to hold these corporations accountable.. Put in laws that prevent the taking advantage of the customers, push people who just want to take advantage of hard workers out the space we create.. It isn’t over till it’s OVER!

[@CarlosArellano99]

I love that man

[@Khobotov]

Baldur's Gate 3 and Helldivers 2 shows the game industry what it could be and they hate them for it.

[@ForgottenGames]

Greed is the ultimate motivator. The drive to make money is not done by developers and passionate CEO's - but by corporate people who use a studio as a tool to make money. They will kill off anything to pretend their margins are optimized.

[@frankbee2657]

As consummers,we get to choose what we want. Personally, I never encouraged monthly subscribtion fees, in game purchases and other kind of gimmicks of the sort. I am an old school gamer who likes to buy a game and be done with it. I find it absolutely disgusting when I see interviews on KZbin about people spending amounts like 10k per month on a game. The industry we get is the industry we deserved by supporting these kind of practices and putting likes, viewing or subscribing to this kind of KZbin content. I hope that this industry finds a proper balance. About BG3, I bought it right away to encourage Larian because this is the kind of company I want to encourage. I only played a few hours so far and waiting for definitive edition before making a play through. All my respect to this company and for others like them (Team Cherry with the Hollow Knight game comes to mind).

[@rettbull9100]

Was really hoping Larian was going to make a BG4. My hopes feel shattered, but am still got a slither of it that Hasbro will come to some agree with Larian and let them make the game. Though I doubt it. More than like Hasbro will let some other game developer try their hand at making BG4.

[@josephseiler1878]

The gaming industry got taken over by finance, marketing, and corporate people.

[@heramaaroricon4738]

MrHulten: At this point, most of you guys watching this have played throught the game OR SEVERAL TIMES! Me: *didn't finish it once yet due to breaks and re-starting every time I try to play it (I am too used to playing online)*

[@TacticalCastle]

Good call out man!

[@TheHighborn]

3:30 those who look at things, from the vantage point of an excell sheet, will never see the human factor.

[@Hunnan1012]

I so desperately am waiting for mod support. Really wanna play this game with mods. Love modding Larian games ❤❤❤

[@MrSteezEnvy]

I understand that game developers and studios NEED and have to make money, they work a job obviously. It’s just frustrating that the gaming industry went so mainstream that it caused the field to be an extremely greedy field overall. I’m not sure if it was streaming, e-sports, or just giant companies like EA constantly buying any company that is a small threat to their empire that caused this…But most gamers just want a good PRODUCT. This half baked, copy paste hud/rpg elements/micro store/56 tutorial message popups format is just so boring and drawn out. They hype up games and make them look amazing in trailers and gameplay previews, only to release the same garbage as the other company. Gaming seems like it just got too big, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.

[@Shigawire]

Swen Vincke is as close to perfect as a "boss" can be. I don't even think he likes the term "boss" to be applied to him. He is a highly principled game director, with all the (for me) correct ethics and morals. People and product first. I strongly admire his flaming on the SYSTEMIC problem of greedy publishers. Swen also treats his employees very well according to a multitude of sources. I just checked the employee reviews of Larian Studios on Glassdoor, and what comes again and again? NO CRUNCH. The only con that seems to be prevalent is "poor communication between departments" - which is common with humans in any organization.

[@spaceman9599]

This is not just thestate of the gaming industry, it is the state of industry period. And frankly the planet. Late stage 2 necrocapitalism where venture bros all want to be the next billionaire or make sure everyone else dies trying, and greed is the religion. Sociopaths cosplaying dystopia.

[@Pugh.Pugh.BarneyMcGrew]

This is one of the reasons I am so hopeful for a few games right now. Making a really new game, and not just a reskin, dlc, or new version is a long process. It is going to take years. The Game industry is not a "Get rich quick" scheme anymore, like it once was. Rather like the movie industry. This is inevitable as population drops and the world economy slows down. We are all going to face harder less affluent and leisure filled lifestyles, with less choice less free time and less everything. An industry model where we get just a few good games a year, rather than thousands of bad ones, an emphasis of quality over quantity is going to be the new reality.

[@BlueSpams]

I’m sad there will be no expansions or no sequel made by Larian. 😢 But I am glad they’re sticking to what they want to do and it’s always best to say goodbye to something while it ends on a high note . Especially if that high note also includes a “fuck you” to the publishers that would be guaranteed to ruin them.

[@tomvaneldik3123]

Swen Vincke is a class act.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

If you want a great example of what NOT to do, look at Studio 343's development of Halo Infinite. Half a BILLION dollars was sunk into that thing's development over the years, but it hardly mattered because they primarily relied on an ever-changing crew of contractors to do most of the development work. It saved them money in the short term because contractors don't get employee benefits, but it also turned the game and its engine into a nightmarish Jenga-tower of spaghetti code.

[@tomn.9987]

Studios like Larian might soon not just fill the shoes of the industry giants, but rather pave their own way. I love it how even relatively small studios (or 1 person in case of LC) can make masterpieces worthy of high praise. Companies like EA, Ubi, Bethesda and others rely on their brand recognition but that won't work forever.

[@GKViddingHD]

Thanks for this video, Larian's speech was very important for thr gaming industry!

[@quintyss1290]

I wish people would quit kicking the rock I'm trying to hide under :D. Once again, thank you Papa Sven and Swen for making my day a little bit better. Maybe someday the clouds will part.

[@em1ownerify]

The games good, but I do wish there was some replay value in the looting system bc I can go 200 barrels without anything good found

[@Peleski]

Good on him. Nevertheless, I feel Larian, being privately owned, has really been able to take risks that big studios wouldn't dare, because their teams of lawyers and PR consultants would shout "no no no!!!" It's so refreshing to see a game targeting adults for a change, with adult story telling, and I really think this is what's made it such a winner.

[@debrickashaw9387]

Publishers sacrifice longevity and customer loyalty for short term profits

[@shaantitus1538]

Sven is literally the the Messiah of gaming. Dude works miracles, he is popular with the masses, and unpopular with the ruling class. What a guy. Just want to shake his hand.

[@Rob_Pap]

Larian would make a MLP game and I would 100% the fuck out of it. We need more Sven in our life

[@Mare_Man]

Equestria is unironically perfect for an RPG setting