Chinese Players Review-Bomb Baldur’s Gate 3 Because Swen Vincke Announced Astro Bot As GOTY

It’s not every day you get to witness this level of petty in the gaming industry. Talk about leaving a bad review of a game whose presenter just handed out an award to a title you don’t like. That’s how things have transpired at The Game Awards this year, as Chinese players flocked together to review-bomb Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam following Astro Bot winning Game of the Year. 

Feel free to head over to the RPG’s Steam Community page and observe how a number of negative reviews only point out Swen Vincke’s pre-award speech. Before announcing Game of the Year, Swen vehemently criticized the industry, calling out modern-day game development and trend-chasing and explaining why the industry needs a remake.

Sales not important? Then player review must not be important either. Take this negative review. GOTY doesn’t have to meet sales targets? I’ll never buy Larian games again,” writes one Steam user (English translated). 

However, it bears mentioning that a majority of Chinese players (who have been leaving bad reviews on Baldur’s Gate 3) may have seemingly misunderstood the context of the speech. Swen’s words cast a lens on the industry as a whole, and don’t fixate on a particular point.  

Swen said in his speech, 

The Oracle told me that the game of the year 2025 was going to be made by a studio, a studio who found the formula to make it up here on stage. Studio made their game because they wanted to make a game that they wanted to play themselves.

They didn’t make it to increase market share. They didn’t make it to serve as a brand. They didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets or fear being laid off if they didn’t meet those targets.” 

No matter the context, it’s not mature in any way to target Swen’s game out of nowhere just because of what he holds as an opinion, all the while announcing 2024’s Game of the Year. 

It’s Hilarious Because Black Myth: Wukong Is A Great Game As Well 

And the funny part is: Wukong is a fantastic game that’s as far away from the issues Swen spoke about as possible, so I’m genuinely not sure why Baldur’s Gate 3 was noted as an outlet for player frustration and hate. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 won Game of the Year in 2023, beating the likes of Resident Evil 4, Alan Wake 2, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as well. It came out in August 2023, earning 5/5 in eXputer’s review, with author Huzaifah Durrani remarking, 

Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and a testament to the talent of developer Larian Studios.”