The DICE Awards is the celebration developers and fans deserve | Top Vip News

He Baldur’s Gate 3 The developers won Game of the Year, again, during the 27th edition of the DICE awards. But in stark contrast to their victory at the 2023 Game Awards, this time they were able to speak.

“We don’t have shareholders, but we don’t think about them either,” said Larian Studios head of production David Walgrave. “Building a community, building a player base, creating games that are really fun will allow you to make the most money.”

His words were a direct shot at Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors, who said during a recent earnings report that the company “The fundamental principle is to always maximize shareholder value in any given situation..”

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been crowned game of the year several times, and its previous game of the year honor came from Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards.

The Game Awards 2023 had millions of viewers and is often one of the most watched game shows of the year. But on one of the industry’s largest and most visible platforms, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke didn’t have a chance to say much before a teleprompter encouraged him to “conclude.”

On stage at the DICE event, his colleagues’ acceptance speech lasted several minutes, allowing several members of the group BG3 team the time to acknowledge the dismal state of the industry while offering hope to developers.

“Many, many people were laid off earlier this year,” said editorial director Michael Douse. “I want everyone to know that they are talented, that they are important and that they are the future of this industry.”

The DICE Awards (short for Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) are awarded by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences – basically the video game industry’s equivalent to the film, television and recording industry academies – making the event the video game version of the Oscars. However, the DICE Awards do not receive the same level of attention as their entertainment counterparts or even the Game Awards, as they lack the same level of production value and visibility; After all, it’s an industry event attended by industry people for industry people.

But it’s the best show by far.

Because nowhere else will you hear a scathing joke about Embracer Group’s status as the video game industry’s biggest villain while one of its companies, Gearbox Software, is a corporate member of the Academy.

Unity was not spared either, although it was also a sponsor of the event:

Beyond criticizing some of the companies responsible for 2023 being one of the worst years in recent memory for the workforce in the video game industry, DICE also aimed to celebrate the legends of the industry. Mario and The legend of Zelda Composer Koji Kondo was inducted into the Academy Hall of Fame with a tribute that paid tribute to Kondo’s iconic music and legendary career.

And even if a developer didn’t receive hall of fame honors, it was nice to see them have the time and space to be human, to remind us that the people who work in video games deserve as much recognition as the games they make.

The reason the Game Awards attract so much attention is because it’s a showcase of games, trailers, and movie stars. It’s a giant advertisement. And because it’s an advertisement, beholden to sponsors, during the rare moments when it has a statement to make, makes them as vague and harmless as possible.

We watch the Oscars and the Grammys because, over time, our culture has come to hold the people who make the movies and music in the same esteem as the product. But game developers, outside of Hideo Kojima, still don’t have and probably never will have that level of esteem, so we pay more attention to the product, not the people.

The DICE Awards remind us of people.