What a crowning achievement this is for Baldur’s Gate 3 and Larian Studios. Baldur’s Gate 3 has really overcome all of the odds and has made history by being named the 2023 Game of the Year award winner!
This is such a great accomplishment for Larian Studios.
Despite being in development for nigh on six years and facing many issues and doubts, Baldur’s Gate 3 overcame all of the odds, doubts, haters, and critics as it has won the 2023 Game of the Year award! And, to be honest, I think this is one of the best wins the Game of the Year awards has had in years!
So, before I get into the more meta and gaming industry-focused reasons as to why I think Baldur’s Gate 3’s tremendous Game of the Year award win is so important for gaming, let me just say one thing first: congratulations, Larian Studios, as you guys have just won the Game of the Year award for Baldur’s Gate 3!
As I said in the intro, it really is something that a game of Baldur’s Gate 3’s caliber won what can be arguable said as the most prestigious Game of the Year award in all of gaming.
The game just bucks all of the recent trends in the gaming industry with the title having taken many years to perfect, its opening chapter was released in an open-beta for fans themselves to test, critique, and debug, over hundreds of hours of story, character, and completely player-driven dialogue, gameplay, gameplay mechanics, and cinematic cutscenes were created for this title, a user-friendly, extremely customizable character designer that puts even the best modern designers/customizers to shame, a single-player focused-game, and a fundamental, wholehearted rejection of loot boxes and microtransactions by having ALL ELEMENTS of the game actually in the base price of $59.99.
I’m not saying this is better than other past Game of the Year winners, such as Elden Ring, God of War, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, etc., but I am saying that all of the elements of this game I listed above most definitely put it in that conversation of all-time classic titles.
Now, a few months ago, I made a prediction that I thought The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Super Mario Bros. Wonder would win the award given the placement of two Nintendo titles on the nomination shortlist, the amazing quality of both of these titles, and the legendary history of Nintendo against Larian Studios, but I’m so glad Baldur’s Gate 3 won out.
Of course, I would have been happy for either Nintendo title to win as they follow many of the great game elements I listed above too, but Baldur’s Gate 3 was just an amazing and completely unique experience to nearly every single game out on the market today. And that really is the highest honor one can say for a game.
But, as for my reasons as to why I was happy this game won for the gaming industry as a whole, it comes down to one simple reason: Baldur’s Gate 3 proved the classic, fan-focused, and passionate way to make video games has and always will be the most successful and beloved way to create amazing titles.
The overwhelming push for evermore greed, monopoly, and financial domination by the monopolistic opportunists (you know who I’m talking about…cough…Microsoft, EA, Activision, Unity, Sony…cough) has diluted what games should really be about and how to make them for nearly a decade now, and I’m so happy that a small, independent, passionate, and fan-focused studio was rewarded with the ultimate prize for making an outstanding game.
So, to wrap up, let me just congratulate Larian Studios once again. for making a brilliant game in Baldur’s Gate 3. This award was more than well earned!
Images Source: (Larian Studios) (Baldur’s Gate 3 Accolades Trailer – YouTube)
