Baldur's Gate 3 - Swen Vincke Interview

[HiddenX]

Gamesindustry interviewed Swen Vincke:

Larian after Baldur's Gate 3: "We have ambitions to make really good RPGs, and that's sufficient"

CEO Swen Vincke on the studio's biggest hit, why the team is moving on, and solving the industry's unsustainable growth

Last week, Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 won five BAFTAs, including Best Game and Player's Choice.

[...]

"We did something new," Vincke says when chatting about BG3's success. "We put agency in cinematics at a level that hadn't been done before, and we didn't go out of the way trying to take shortcuts, although we did use a lot of tricks. But you can sense that the agency was real, I think. So that's a massive reason. We didn't deviate from that, even if we were facing development problems."

The resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons, and the weight of the Baldur's Gate name, both played their part in this success story, but there was a real 'if you build it, they will come' approach to making Baldur's Gate 3, coupled with not only a strong bond with the Larian community but the right strategy to maintain it.

"I'll give you a very Catholic answer - treat your players as you would like to be treated, that's it," Vincke says when asked about how to maintain trust with a game's community.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

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[Redglyph]

Great article!

I wonder where he finds the time to give all those interviews while developing games.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well when you live on a pile of money you can afford drugs as well

 

[Redglyph]

Well, it's not far from the border with Netherlands, and some drugs like hash and marijuana are legal over there.

 

[Couchpotato]

In reality though he's still on top of the world in what I like to to call the winner high.

Let's hope his return to normalcy doesn't affect him to much in the future.

 

[JDR13]

Well, it's not far from the border with Netherlands, and some drugs like hash and marijuana are legal over there.

That might actually explain some of the things he does.

 

[Redglyph]

That might actually explain some of the things he does.

What do you mean? We're all still wearing armour in Belgium. Russia isn't far from here.

 

[SSIGuy]

Well, it's not far from the border with Netherlands, and some drugs like hash and marijuana are legal over there.

I used to live not too far over that border and sometimes we'd come down to Ghent for a day trip, and I always wanted to just walk into their office as a fan to tell them I loved their games... alas, I never did and now I live back in North America. It's too bad, Sven probably would have been high on something and invited me to hang out for the day! lol