'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs

Hasbro being the worst, yet again

BG3's only sin is having to be tied to the worst owner in tabletop gaming. Thank god Larian is independent.

Hasbro continuing to make shit decisions on behalf of WotC, the only sector of the company keeping it afloat.

laying off 1,100 employees as a way to "modernize our organization and get even leaner

Yeah because that's what we want of the ones in charge of publishing, administering and providing support for some of the most played games in the world now and historically: leanness! The fewer people to take care of important things, the better! 🤦

I know that he's talking to investors rather than players, but come on! Also, there's nothing "modern" about stupidly trying to increase profits via mass layoffs without expecting blowback and for quality to suffer. That's some 1700s bullshit right there.

The same Hasbro that tried to make a land grab for all D&D derivative content by changing their Open Game License to grant them irrevocable, perpetual rights to it. This is not a nice company as they demonstrate time and again.

So maybe it's time the RPG community stopped thinking Hasbro are ever going to change, mourn for what D&D has become, but move onto something else.

Guess Larian just got a load of designers and writers. Such a shame as 5th ed was a real highlight, but now a lot of people seem to be heading back to pathfinder like the 4th ed days. Luckily, the Divinity universe can stand on its own and there's a wealth of other tabletop rulesets waiting for their amazing adaptions

For the likely large overlap this audience might have with dnd, it didn't make 100mil a year so it gets to eat shit. It doesn't help that the video game license isn't counted in that total. Other Hasbro brands do make 100mil a year.

I thought magic was one. It is surprising to see layoffs there.

Anyway, of course a corporation does evil shit. The only moral is the line going up.

Somebody needs to make a company shit list so I can avoid them. I got EA, Hasbro, Nestle so far.

But what about the poor CEOs? Did they get their Christmas bonus? Think of the children!!

“I felt your breath upon my neck; investors’ wants as cold as death.”

I can only ask how much cocaine remained on the table when they finally decided to do this. Not much, I’d wager.

CEO is aptly named, at least.

Haven’t played BG3 but wtf sense does it make to layoff these team(s)?

Plenty of people paid for the game and enjoyed it and it won GOTY.

stop whoring yourselves to these evil fuckups

They are owned by Hasbro? Why?

"sorry, you only made most of the money, we wanted you to make all of the money."

Why does it matter? The game is finished

Please do not tell me that anyone is surprised that a triple A game studio laid off most of their employees as a reward for a job well done.

Please. Please tell me everyone has figured out that nearly all large game dev companies are pure fucking evil.

EDIT: Welp, thats what I get for making an ill informed post after 36 hours on the road before passing out in my motel, yep, I probably should have read the article.