During the Game Awards 2023, numerous new games were presented and Baldur’s Gate 3 received the biggest award: the “Game of the Year”. Now, as the emotions have cooled a bit, many gamers are analyzing what happened – and are disappointed with what was actually a great show. They believe that advertising was more important to the creators than the games themselves.
These were the Game Awards:
- On the night of December 7th to 8th, the Game Awards 2023 ran from 12:00 AM to 4:00 AM German time. Over 400,000 people watched on Twitch alone (via sullygnome).
- The awards featured numerous new games, but the core was the presentation of various awards for the best games of the year in different categories.
- The most coveted award, “Game of the Year”, went to Baldur’s Gate 3. The head received the award in full armor.
This is the discussion about the “Game of the Year”: Even during the Game Awards and shortly thereafter, there were heated discussions about the decision. Fans of various games argued whether Baldur’s Gate 3 or rather the new Zelda game Tears of the Kingdom or Spider-Man 2 deserved the award. Especially on social media, tensions ran high.
Such disputes are normal, as each of these games has a large fan base. The victory 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.
Nevertheless, many agree that Baldur’s Gate 3 deserved the award. Only the way it was awarded has provoked some disgusted reactions.
With this scene, Baldur’s Gate 3 quickly became famous:
“All that matters is that the Kojima circlejerk gets 10 minutes”
During the award presentations, most speakers received only a few seconds for their thank-you speeches, as users explained shortly after the awards on X and others. Fans agree: it’s not fair to properly honor an award (via Reddit).
Especially for Baldur’s Gate 3, studio head Swen Vincke dedicated the award to a deceased colleague from development. Even for that, there was no extension; after about 30 seconds, the speech ended.
At the same time, Larian announced Baldur’s Gate 3 for Xbox – and released it quite suddenly. Users on Reddit say: “If Swen had been given a little time, he could have said that too.” (via Reddit)
The mood is somewhat dampened, especially in light of the fact that advertising has been given much more space than fans believe is appropriate. However, since the “Game of the Year” concluded the event, there was no time left for advertising afterwards.
What especially annoys fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 is the fact that the new and quite strange game by Hideo Kojima was given almost 10 minutes, including a live interview.
A user from Belgium complains: he got up at 2:00 AM to cheer on his compatriots from Larian. However, what they were given was disappointing and not compensation for the lack of sleep.
MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski sees it similarly:
