Baldur's Gate 3 boss Swen Vincke still doesn't like mean-spirited criticism amid Highguard backlash, but he recognizes "good games are being mutilated to turn them into money machines"

Baldur's Gate 3 studio boss Swen Vincke would really appreciate it if you weren't so mean.

The Larian founder recently crusaded against what he thinks of as unfair criticism – an especially relevant topic now that PvP shooter Highguard is getting torn to chicken bits by people on Steam with under three hours of playtime. But Vincke tries to make it clear in a January 29 follow-up that it really is just unfair criticism he wants to set on fire.

"My point wasn't that I have an issue with criticism," Vincke writes in a nearly 600-word Twitter essay. "My point was that it doesn’t need to be hurtful. Imho that creates alienation between people who have the same hobby and essentially all want the same thing: better games. Constructive criticism really has higher impact."

"Personally, I got my first threats of violence in 2009, all because I was trying to make something fun and failed in that person's opinion," he continues. That said, Vincke also recognizes "there's a lot of disappointment out there. Good games are being mutilated to turn them into money machines and that obviously causes a lot of frustration because it makes the games worse."

Vincke credits Baldur's Gate 3's success to "constructive opinions" and shares his respect for both public and professional reviewers, some of who now work at Larian. About the latter, the developer says, "They are my first port of call whenever I work on something for too long and can't tell if it's good anymore. Often they will tell me that what I made was shit, but they'll phrase it such that it helps me understand why it was shit. That's invaluable."

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