During the Game Awards 2023, a number of new games were presented and Baldur’s Gate 3 received the biggest prize: “Game of the Year”. Now that feelings have cooled down a bit, many gamers are analyzing what happened – and are disappointed in what was actually a great show. They think: Advertising was more important to the creators than the games themselves.
These were the Game Awards:
This is the discussion about the “Game of the Year”: There were heated discussions about the decision during the Game Awards and shortly afterwards. Fans of various games argued whether Baldur’s Gate 3 or the new Zelda game Tears of the Kingdom or Spider-Man 2 really deserved the award. The mood was particularly high on social media.
Such arguments are normal as each of these games has a large fan base. The victory simply came as a surprise to many: even Larian expected “maybe 100,000 players” before the release and before the viral bear sex scene, hardly anyone knew the game.
Still, many agree that Baldur’s Gate 3 deserves the award. Only the way in which it was awarded met with some disgusted reactions.
Baldur’s Gate 3 quickly became famous with this scene:
The makers of Baldur’s Gate 3 show an intimate love scene with a bear and are immediately banned
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“The main thing is that the Kojima circle jerk gets 10 minutes”
During the awards ceremonies, most speakers only received a few seconds for their acceptance speeches, as users explain on X and Co. shortly after the awards. The fans agree: that’s not a fair way to properly honor an honor (via Reddit).
For Baldur’s Gate 3 in particular, studio boss Swen Vincke dedicated the award to an employee who died during development. Even for this there was no extension; the speech ends after about 30 seconds.
At the same time, Larian announced Baldur’s Gate 3 for the Xbox – and released it, quite suddenly. Users on Reddit say: “If Swen had been given a little time, he might have even been able to say that.” (via Reddit)
The mood is somewhat clouded, especially given that, according to fans, much more space has been given to advertising. But since the “Game of the Year” was the finale, there was no more time for advertising afterwards.
What is particularly dissatisfying among fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 is the fact that Hideo Kojima’s new and rather strange game was given almost 10 minutes, including a live interview.
A user from Belgium complained that he got up at 2:00 a.m. to cheer on his compatriots from Larian. What they were given was disappointing and no compensation for the lack of sleep.
MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski sees it similarly:
Game Awards 2023: Time for Muppets, advertising and Hollywood, but no time for the most important people in the show