A year after Baldur’s Gate 3 swept the Game Awards and claimed the prestigious Game of the Year title, Larian Studios’ monumental RPG has earned another accolade: the 2024 Best Community Support award. During his acceptance speech, game director and Larian CEO Swen Vincke delivered a powerful message about the state of the games industry and what truly defines a Game of the Year winner.

Vincke began provocatively, declaring he already knows the winners of the following three Game of the Year awards. “How do I know this? Well, an oracle told me. She said, ‘Change is coming,'” he quipped. Lightening the mood, he added, “This oracle also made me sign an NDA.”

Shifting to a more serious tone, Vincke elaborated on what the oracle revealed about the future winner of Game of the Year 2025. He said this hypothetical studio had unlocked a deceptively simple formula for success. “They made their game because they wanted to make a game that they wanted to play themselves. They created it because it hadn’t been created before. They didn’t make it to increase market share, they didn’t make it to serve the brand, they didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets, or fear being laid off if they didn’t mean those targets.” His words struck a nerve, especially given the industry’s current climate. Layoffs have been rampant, with recent news of Ubisoft cutting up to 177 jobs following the closure of two offices underscoring the precarious state of game development.

Vincke continued, highlighting the pitfalls the oracle’s visionary studio avoided. “Furthermore, the people in charge forbade them from cramming the game with anything whose only purpose was to increase revenue and didn’t serve the game design, They didn’t treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet. They didn’t treat their players as users to exploit. And, they didn’t make decisions they knew were short-sighted and functioned for a bonus or politics. They knew that if you put the game and the team first, the revenue will follow. They were driven by idealism, and wanted players to have fun, and they realised that if the developers didn’t have fun, nobody was going to have any fun.”

He emphasized that this theoretical studio understood an often-overlooked truth: respect fosters loyalty. “They understood the value of respect, that if they treated their developers and players well, those same developers and players would forgive them when things didn’t go as planned. But above all, they cared about their game because they loved games. ‘It’s really that simple,’ said the oracle.”

Reflecting on Baldur’s Gate 3’s Game of the Year win in 2023, Vincke described the experience as “life-changing.” Addressing the as-yet-unnamed 2024 Game of the Year winner—later revealed to be Team Asobi for their charming Astro Bot—he offered heartfelt encouragement: “You have no idea what’s waiting for you. It’s an incredible honor, and you’re in for a heck of a ride.”

Vincke’s speech wasn’t just a celebration of Larian’s accomplishments but a challenge to the industry to remember why games are made in the first place. His words underscored a hopeful vision for the future of game development rooted in creativity, respect, and love for the medium.