Highlights

  • Swen Vincke of Baldur's Gate 3 criticizes gaming industry layoffs due to corporate greed.
  • Vincke urges companies to slow down on greed, take care of employees, and prioritize projects.
  • Larian Studios encourages laid off developers to apply, stands against frequent layoffs.

Swen Vincke, director of Baldur's Gate 3, has spoken out about the mass layoffs that have been hitting the gaming industry, citing corporate greed as the ultimate culprit. Baldur's Gate 3 was one of the most successful releases of last year, and the game's director had some strong words for the industry.

Despite last year being one of the greatest years for gaming in terms of major releases, there was also plenty of upsetting news regarding the state of the overall industry. Mass layoffs have been plaguing the game industry for a long time now, and these layoffs seemingly hit an apex in 2023. Unfortunately, the layoffs haven't slowed down this year, either. It seems like every week there is a new major studio laying off hundreds of employees, and it has become incredibly worrying that these layoffs don't seem to be stopping any time soon. However, the director behind Baldur's Gate 3 recently spoke up in regard to this problem in the industry, and he didn't mince words.

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Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke addressed mass layoffs at the Game Developers Conference, as reported by Eurogamer, stating that greed is the main factor behind letting employees go. Recently, Larian Studios made an announcement encouraging developers laid off by other companies to apply to the studio, and Swen Vincke has continued to mirror Larian's support with his words at the Game Developers Conference.

Baldur's Gate 3 Director Calls Out Corporate Greed

Swen Vincke had some strong words for companies that resort to laying off significant portions of staff, stating that they ruin things for the entire industry. As Vincke continued his address, he mentioned that corporations seem to only care about quarterly profits instead of the overall project, and that this leads to mistakes that not only cost talented developers their jobs, but also comes at a cost to the companies over time as well, since they end up hiring back new developers anyway. "You can make reserves. Just slow down a bit. Slow down on the greed. Be resilient, take care of the people, don't lose the institutional knowledge that's been built up in the people you lose every single time, so you have to go through the same cycle over and over and over. It really pisses me off," Vincke said. The director's words and feelings were made very clear during his speech, and it shows where Larian Studios stands on the subject. As Larian Studios looks towards the future, it seems to care about retaining its staff for these projects in order to be efficient.

You can make reserves. Just slow down a bit. Slow down on the greed. Be resilient, take care of the people, don't lose the institutional knowledge that's been built up in the people you lose every single time, so you have to go through the same cycle over and over and over. It really pisses me off.

There's no telling when this onslaught of layoffs will finally end, but it will hopefully be soon. With Apex Legends being the most recent layoffs to be added to the growing list of affected developers, it's alarming that this is happening so frequently. However, it's great when people within the industry, like Vincke, speak up on the matter and stand up for those who are affected.