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https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1735128899984466295
https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1735128899984466295
For anyone else wondering about the Wizards of the Coast comment, Hasbro just laid off 1100 people.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2023/12/hasbro-layoffs-december/
Edit: 1100 across Hasbro, thanks @Damage@slrpnk.net
And it is possible there may not be any firings at WotC. This is the only well performing part of Hasbro.
In the linked speech Swen says:
I also want to thank @Wizards_DnD and specifically the DnD team for giving us carte blanche. I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go. It’s a sad thing to realize that of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left. I hope you all end up well
Penny Arcade also had a post yesterday about hearing from former WOTC team members who have been let go.
Then that is kind of fucked up. WotC is the part of the company keeping Hasbro afloat right now. Activist investors had wanted to spin off WotC because the rest of the company is performing that badly.
Firing from WotC makes no sense.
Nothing those companies do makes sense, thats why both of their major products are going down the toilet.
Great speech, would have taken less than 90 seconds. Thanks Devs and fans, mourns losses, praises competition, games are art.
Winning Game of the year is a great honor and I want to first thank everyone that voted for us and I want to congratulate all the other nominees. This has been an incredibly competitive year and you each would have deserved to win this award @CapcomUSA_ @remedygames @insomniacgames @NintendoAmerica
I want to thank @geoffkeighley and the people that organized the #gameawards for creating an award show so big that it gets mainstream attention. While 30 secs is a bit short , there’s nothing like the game awards and it’s an incredible achievement
I wore armor at the #gameawards because BG3 is a game that couldn’t exist without its our player community and I wanted to pay tribute to how important they’ve been for the development. You rock community BG3
Making a game like this only works if you have an incredible passionate and talented team and in that regard I am incredibly lucky with the @larianstudios – they are some of the finest and they did a truly amazing job
Over 2000 people are listed in the credits and since I can’t call out everyone, I want to focus on a group of people that don’t always get the credit they deserve
Team QA, team localisation, team customer support, team operations, team publishing, team play testers, and every other developer at Larian, BG3 wouldn’t exist without you and you all deserve to be very proud of this
I want to dedicate this award to the friends and family members we lost during development including Jim, our lead cinematic animator who passed away last month and personally to my father who passed away the week before we launched our early access campaign
You don’t get to make something like BG3 if you don’t have the support from the people around you. Personally, I really want to thank 5 special people, a crazy dog and a one-eyed cat for sticking with me
Big shout out also to our localization partners and @PitStopTweets who had to use every corner of their building to record and performance capture what was an insane number of lines
To our actors – you did great. I hope our paths will cross again in the future and your agents will remain their usual reasonable selves :)
I also want to thank @Wizards_DnD and specifically the DnD team for giving us carte blanche. I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go. It’s a sad thing to realize that of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left. I hope you all end up well
There are many more partners I want to thank. We asked much of you all, but you delivered and without your efforts, BG3 would not be what it is
I want to end with a story of a conversation I had a long time ago with a publisher. He told me, luckily for them, games are driven by idealism. He meant it in an exploitative way but he was right
Games are a unique art form, as important as books, music or movies. Many developers, myself included, make games because they love seeing others engage with their creations in a way only games can offer
They don’t care that much about the money made beyond it being the fuel they need to create new and better games. It’s worth reminding everyone that fuel is but a means, not a goal. Whereto and how we journey are what matter and what we remember
Thank you.
Which played music when time was up to get them off stage. Which for him was in the middle of remembering people who died from covid. Geoff Keighley, you're a dick.
Yeah, two minutes would be a much better time. I wouldn't mind even longer at 5 min or so, especially for a studio like Larian that probably has something interesting to say compared to the larger studios.
If the layoffs included nearly everyone that negotiated the license terms, that might help to explain why Larian went from hinting months before launch "DLC could be anything, even adapting one shot campaigns" to recently "we are full steam ahead on our next new game".