Baldur's Gate 3 boss thought Alan Wake 2 or Tears of the Kingdom would win GOTY, not Larian's "hardcore RPG"

Baldur’s Gate 3 absolutely swept through this year’s Golden Joystick Awards with a record-breaking seven wins in categories such as Best Storytelling, Best Studio, and the Ultimate Game of the Year. But Larian Studios’ CEO wasn’t expecting quite so much trophy love, despite the game’s mammoth success.

Reacting to the awards, Swen Vincke said the team “didn’t plan on anything” and had even joked with each other about walking home empty-handed: “How are we going to get rid of the depression?” Vincke admits that he thought winning PC Game of the Year was possible, but “didn’t think” the other six awards would follow.

The main reason for his skepticism was that, despite the brutal layoffs and studio closures, this year was stuffed with good games. “There was so much competition this year,” Vincke says. “I’ve been doing this for quite some time, as you can see from my hair, and there’s been very few years when there’s been so many good games released so close to one another.”

Vincke actually thought the grand trophy (Ultimate Game of the Year) would go to another five-star heavy-hitter. “Honestly I thought it was gonna be Alan Wake 2. I haven’t played it yet but I saw all the chatter about it. I saw people being ecstatic about it. So I figured it was gonna be Alan Wake 2, and if it wasn’t Alan Wake 2 I thought it was gonna be [The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom].”

The other reason for Vincke’s surprise was that games like Baldur’s Gate 3 don’t often breakthrough with awards, which sometimes skew toward ‘cinematic’ blockbusters. “I didn’t think a PC-focused game like BG3 with hardcore RPG mechanics in there would be able to do this."

While we wait for Larian’s “next big game,” check out everything we know about Baldur’s Gate 3’s DLC chances.