The DICE Awards are the celebration developers and fans deserve

the Baldur's Gate 3 The developers won the Game of the Year award again during 27th Annual DICE Awards. But in stark contrast to their win at the 2023 Games Awards, this time they were able to speak up.

“We don't have shareholders, but we don't think about them either,” said David Woolgrave, head of production at Larian Studios. “Building a community, building a player base, and building really fun games will bring you the most money.”

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

Baldur's Gate 3 It has been crowned Game of the Year several times, with it being awarded Game of the Year at Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards.

The 2023 Game Awards boast millions of viewers and is often one of the most watched game shows of the year. But on one of the biggest and most visible platforms in the industry, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke didn't get a chance to say much before a teleprompter encouraged him to “wrap it up.”

On stage at the DICE event, his teammates' acceptance speech lasted several minutes, allowing several members… B C3 Take the time to acknowledge the dire state of the industry while offering hope to developers.

“We had a lot of people laid off at the beginning of this year,” publishing director Michael Doss said. “I want you all to know that you are talented, that you matter, and that you are the future of this industry.”

The DICE Awards (short for Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) are presented by Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences – The video game industry is essentially equivalent to the motion picture, 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, lacking an equal level of production value and visibility – after all, it is an industry event attended by industry people for industry people.

But it's the best show yet.

Because nowhere else will you hear a snarky joke about the Embracer Group's status as the video game industry's premier villain while one of its companies — Gearbox Software — is a founding member of the Academy.

Unity wasn't spared either, although it was also a sponsor of the event:

In addition to criticizing some of the companies responsible for 2023 being one of the worst years in recent memory for video game industry employment, DICE has also been all about celebrating legends of the industry. Mario And Legend of Zelda The composer was Koji Kondo He was inducted into the Academy's Hall of Fame With a tribute to Kondo's iconic music and legendary career.

Even if a developer doesn't receive Hall of Fame honors, it was nice to see them have the time and space to be human, reminding us that people who work in video games deserve recognition as much as the games they make.

The reason The Game Awards gets so much attention is because it showcases games, trailers, and movie stars. It's a giant advertisement. Because it is a declaration, it is beholden to its shepherds, and during the rare moments when it has a statement to make, It makes it as mysterious and harmless as possible.

We watch the Oscars and the Grammys because over time, our culture has come to hold the people who make movies and music in the same regard as the producer. But game developers, outside of Hideo Kojima, don't yet enjoy that level of recognition, and likely never will — so we pay more attention to the product, not the people.

The DICE Awards remind us of people.