The director of Baldur's Gate 3 spoke out about the layoffs affecting the industry, and the least we can say is that he did not mince his words.
For many, 2023 was a great year for video games, and the same goes for the start of 2024. This may be the case in terms of releases, but not in the industry. We are witnessing waves of huge layoffs which are impacting many studios. Everyone goes there, PlayStation, Microsoft, EA, Embracer, Deck Nine Games, in short, the list is unfortunately long. We all agree that this is not a fair situation for the developers, and this is what the director of Baldur's Gate 3 made clear during a rather striking speech.
Baldur's Gate 3 director speaks out on layoffs
Swen Vincke, the man behind the new installment of the franchise, was present at the Game Developers Choice Awards. An event which is part of the GDC (Game Developer Conference) which takes place in San Francisco. He took the stage to collect the award for Best Narration for Baldur's Gate 3. And he obviously gave a speech. But he didn't just talk about his game. Instead, he didn't hesitate to point the finger at recent layoffs and the big publishers responsible for them.
“Greed has been screwing this up for so long, ever since I started. I've fought editors my whole life and I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over again”, he explained to the audience. We can see that he doesn't hold back, and that's normal. The medium is going through a terrible time, and many people are wondering if it won't be their turn. He goes on to denounce the relentless pursuit of profit and the consequences that accompany this state of mind. “ The only thing that matters is the numbers, and enthen you fire everyone and the next year you say “damn, I don't have any more developers”, before hiring others, making acquisitions, and starting again in the same loop”.
We feel that it weighed on his heart, but the director of Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't just tackle. It calls for being measured, for caring about the well-being of others. Otherwise, trust will be lost forever. “You can stock up. Slow down a little. Slow down the greed. Be resilient, take care of people, don't lose the fundamental knowledge that has been accumulated in people that you lose every time. You then have to go through the same cycle over and over and over again. It really annoys me.” We can only validate his words.