Game news “You are an idiot”, the dismissal of artists makes the boss of Baldur’s Gate 3 react

Game news “You are an idiot”, the dismissal of artists makes the boss of Baldur’s Gate 3 react

See Baldur’s Gate 3 on GOG

Larian supports licensed developers

Not long ago, Swen Vinckethe CEO of Larian Studios, spoke out about the waves of layoffs currently affecting the video game industry. Since 2023, nearly 20,000 people working in video game design were laid off for economic reasons, with more than 8000 positions eliminated since the beginning of 2024. It is during the Game Developers Conference that Vincke has expressed support for affected developers, accusing publishers of “greed”, given that most of the current firings have nothing to do with staff abilities and everything to do with quarterly profits.

For Vincke, studio managers do not see the long term, and even less on the human level, since they have no remorse in getting rid of talented employees to inflate the figures. He considers these dismissals not only as a lack of respect towards the developers, but also towards the industry itself, since it is this type of behavior which prevents studios from producing quality games and offering conditions correct work conditions for its employees. From, Vincke spoke about this again in an interview with Eurogamerand the man who allowed Baldur’s Gate III to see the day had a lot to say.

The CEO of Larian does not mince his words

In his interview, Swen Vincke looks at the issue of seniority in the world of video game development, and believes that publishers do not realize the impact that current trends will have on their games. According to Vinckestudio executives are completely disconnected from their developers, and have no idea who they are about to fire, much less if it is a “well of knowledge” in their field, since they choose which employees to lay off by looking only at data on an Excel spreadsheet.

When I hear who’s being fired, I’m like, “What?! That doesn’t make any sense.” Because this person is a real source of knowledge within this company. And that’s what shows this disconnect that I was talking to you about, because I know that they’re looking at it in an Excel file, and the person who is looking at that Excel file doesn’t understand what they just lost. And it’s going to cost them a lot more in the long run – they just don’t realize it yet. But it will cost them dearly.

Vincke punctuates his remarks by taking the example of a recent situation. A group of Technical Artists would have been fired (he does not specify which studio is behind these layoffs), and the CEO of Larian did not mince his words when giving his opinion on the matter:

If you fire your Technical Artist, you’re an idiot.

A Technical Artist, it is someone who must ensure the quality of the game from an artistic point of view, but also in terms of performance. This role requires having an overall vision throughout a project in order to plan production methods, which, according to Vincke, allows you to keep an eye on the cost of resources and therefore optimize the work of the artistic and technical teams in operation. THE Senior Technical Artists are therefore essential in the development of a video game, and Swen Vincke really don’t understand how a studio could choose to get rid of it. But all is not lost for these developers, since the CEO of Larian Studios planned to hire them!