Larian Studios - Swen Vincke to receive first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award

Swen Vincke to receive first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award

Even though there's still over a month to go before the Belgian Game Awards 2020 take place as part of 1UP 2020, we're already happy to announce that Swen Vincke will receive the very first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award during the ceremony. The award is a celebration of the career and achievements of a game developer who has made an everlasting impact on the #BelgianGamesIndustry, and this man fits the bill perfectly.

As the only soul crazy enough to start a game studio in Belgium during the mid nineties, the sole founder of Larian Studios is effectively the founding father of the #BelgianGamesIndustry. And while he currently runs an internationally renowned studio with 200 employees spread out over three continents, and is creating the sequel to one of the most treasured RPG franchises ever, his road to fame and fortune wasn't without hardships.

Inspired by the freedom of Richard Garriott's Ultima series, Larian Studios was founded to create world class role-playing games, yet no publisher believed this new kid on the block would be able to pull that off. While this contributed to the demise of their first RPG project LMK, they struck back with the action RPG's Divine Divinity (2002) and Beyond Divinity (2004).

Unfortunately, publisher trouble would become a constant in Larian's history. Divinity II, which had great design ideas like mind reading and the ability to roam the world as a dragon, was pushed out of the door massively undercooked, and got a very poor reception, almost driving the studio out of business. It wasn't until Vincke unshackled himself from publisher control and turned to crowdfunding, self-publishing, and the community that Larian's wildest design ideas could blossom into world class RPG's.

He also pushed his company to the brink of extinction in the process. Going all-in on the development of Divinity: Original Sin was a risky move, but one that ultimately set up the studio for international success and expansion. Upon release, follow-up Divinity: Original Sin 2 was named one of the best RPG's of all time, an accolade that surely helped Vincke in his quest to obtain the keys to the legendary city of Baldur's Gate.

[...]

Click to expand...

Kordanor said:

Hopefully DOS2 was successful enough that they'll survive a few mishaps, which will certainly come at some point in time.

Click to expand...

ilm said:

I don't think a single success will add much margin for error. Especially in their case as they expanded considerable and, I assume, making a higher budget title. Higher risks, higher rewards.

In fact, unfortunately to stay in business the best way is to make several mediocre games instead of putting everything in one big title.

Click to expand...

Andrew23 said:

I think Telltale management had similar idea of easy survival.

Click to expand...

Kordanor said:

Ofc there is also survival bias: We can only celebrate them because they were lucky enough to make it that far.

Click to expand...

ilm said:

In fact, unfortunately to stay in business the best way is to make several mediocre games instead of putting everything in one big title.

Click to expand...

screeg said:

Today seems to be the day for circular arguments. Ever heard of Darkest Dungeon or Slay the Spire? How many mediocre games did they make? Then there's Terry Cavanaugh (all highly rated games) and Matthew Davis/Justin Ma (FTL, Into the Breach).

Click to expand...

ilm said:

In fact, unfortunately to stay in business the best way is to make several mediocre games instead of putting everything in one big title.

Click to expand...