Larian CEO acknowledges Wizards of the Coasts layoffs in belated The Game Awards speech

Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian Studios, has shared what he wanted to say in his acceptance speech at The Game Awards.

Larian took home six wins at the awards ceremony for Baldur’s Gate 3, including game of the year.

Yesterday, Vincke posted a thread on X (née Twitter) with all the thanks he had wanted to give after winning game of the year but was unable to due to the controversially short speech time allotted to winners.

Vincke’s thread included a shoutout to Larian’s QA, localisation team, and other groups of people which he said “don’t always get the credit they deserve”.

He also dedicated the award to Jim Southworth, lead cinematic animator on Baldur’s Gate 3 who passed away in November, and gave a personal dedication to his father who passed away in September 2020.

Vincke thanked the D&D team at Wizards of the Coast too, for giving Larian “carte blanche” when developing Baldur’s Gate 3. “I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go,” he continued. “It’s a sad thing to realise that of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left.”

Layoffs at Hasbro, parent company of Wizards of the Coast, were reported earlier this week (via Reuters) and were expected to affect up to 1100 employees. The layoffs have reportedly hit Wizards of the Coast hard, with many of those affected confirming the news on social media.

Vincke cheekily added an extra note at the end of his thread to mention Baldur’s Gate 3 is “now out on Xbox”, which he was meant to announce in his speech at The Game Awards but forgot.