Larian Studios - People of the Year

GamesIndustry call Larian Studios its people of the year in this interview with Swen Vincke about the success of Divinity: Original Sin II.

[…]

Ultimately, that chapter of Larian's story ended well. Divinity: Original Sin was a hit, selling 500,000 units in less than three months, with the studio collecting a larger share of the revenue than with any previous entry in the series. With Divinity: Original Sin II, though, in its 20th year as a studio, Larian achieved an entirely different level of commercial success, hitting that same 500,000 unit milestone in just four days after it launched in September, and passing 1 million sold just over a week ago.

"We had a bumpy ride in our history, and you need to have a bit of luck," Vincke says, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz about the company's selection for People of the Year 2017. "We had a bit with Original Sin, and we had a bit with Original Sin II also.

"Original Sin was a hit, and Original Sin II has sold a lot faster than the first one. But you never know what your competitors are doing. There could have been somebody that came out with the same genre of game, the same type of mechanics, but executed a lot better. You never know about that."

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I still find it kind of sad that there is no boxed release of D:OS II.
But maybe (very likely) I'm just too old and that's just the way of the world …

But you never know what your competitors are doing.

What competitors?

Originally Posted by SirJames
What competitors?

My thought exactly.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I still find it kind of sad that there is no boxed release of D:OS II.
But maybe (very likely) I'm just too old and that's just the way of the world …

I'm 48 and I fully embrace the digital distribution of games, so it's not about age, it's all in your mind. Embrace the downloads!

Originally Posted by wolfing
I'm 48 and I fully embrace the digital distribution of games, so it's not about age, it's all in your mind. Embrace the downloads!

Amen. I through out all my boxed games (and I had quite a few) years ago. I've bought a lot of them again on Steam and GoG though.

Has anyone seen Tomasp3n around?

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Has anyone seen Tomasp3n around?

Funny you say that. Earlier on I thought, "Hey, that dude's stolen Tomasp3n's… hold on a second…"

Haha, yeah, blame the Nut for commenting on my nick which made me realise it was time to change it. Myrthos fixed it for me instantly, only took me two years to ask him…

Edit: Thank you @Myrthos!

What was wrong with Tomspin?

For real thats what I read his name as for 5 years.

Luck is a factor, but Larian's commitment to creating great CRPGs that scratch so many game-play itches while maintaining a high level of quality is something that is earned through blood, sweat, and (unfortunately) some tears. We're the lucky ones to still have a company making the kinds of games folks like me enjoy. Can't wait for D:OS3!

Originally Posted by Falchor
Luck is a factor, but Larian's commitment to creating great CRPGs that scratch so many game-play itches while maintaining a high level of quality is something that is earned through blood, sweat, and (unfortunately) some tears. We're the lucky ones to still have a company making the kinds of games folks like me enjoy. Can't wait for D:OS3!

Very true. It is amazing what has become of this company from its very humble beginnings back around the turn of the millennium when they were on the verge of bankruptcy when attic Entertainment (DSA/Realms of Arkania trilogy) stopped paying the bills for LMK (The Lady, The Mage and The Knight) which they had outsourced to Larian.

Larian only managed to stay afloat because of their contract work for Belgian TV shows.
Then from the ashes of LMK emerged Project C, later renamed to Divine Divinity when they signed with CDV with lots of ups and downs (mostly downs IIRC ), more ups and especially downs with Divinity II (DKS) and then finally freedom thanks to Kickstarter.

They've basically gone from a garage to a multinational indie studio… an absolutely amazing accomplishment!

People of the year ? Get real.

Originally Posted by you
People of the year ? Get real.

Considering the title goes to someone in the business (I suppose?) I think the choice is a pretty good one.

In regards to:
What was wrong with Tomspin?

For real thats what I read his name as for 5 years.

He/She said they wanted to change it since they got marriaged, iirc. Changing a name or a nick can be good. When I first started on Usenet I chose the nick Fantasy Freak. That got me some weird comments, so I switched to Fantasy Lover, which was worse. I finally settled on crpgnut in '96 and have stuck with it since. BTW, Corwin is the only other person from this site that was on Usenet way back in the early 90's; at least with keeping the same nick.

Hmmm….come to think of it, there was a Thrasher…

Originally Posted by crpgnut
In regards to:
What was wrong with Tomspin?

For real thats what I read his name as for 5 years.

He/She said they wanted to change it since they got marriaged, iirc. Changing a name or a nick can be good. When I first started on Usenet I chose the nick Fantasy Freak. That got me some weird comments, so I switched to Fantasy Lover, which was worse. I finally settled on crpgnut in '96 and have stuck with it since. BTW, Corwin is the only other person from this site that was on Usenet way back in the early 90's; at least with keeping the same nick.

Hmmm….come to think of it, there was a Thrasher…

Yeah, I've had the same nick for about 20 years on pretty much all forums and mail addresses etc. But it was based on my last name, and I chose to take my wifes name when we got married (my last name was more common and I have 7 brothers to carry that forward) since it's unique to her family.