‘If the players own the game, they’ll make it fantastic’: Larian CEO Swen Vincke doubles down on defense of Baldur’s Gate 3 Stardew Valley mod and the modding community overall
Swen Vincke has once again proven himself to be a friend of Baldur’s Gate 3 modders and the wider modding community, doubling down on his defense of mods in a recent GameSpot interview and even advocating for modding as a core part of sustaining games long-term.
Speaking with GameSpot’s Tamoor Hussain, Vincke was asked about the Baldur’s Village Stardew Valley mod that was briefly removed by Wizards of the Coast only for Vincke to come to its defense. The controversy over the mod, and WotC’s position on it, raised questions about what is and isn’t fair game when it comes to modding.
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Vincke’s position is pretty clear, though: “As a company that owns IP, it’s perfectly possible to give somebody a license. So you could just say, ‘Hey, I think what you’re doing is really cool. Here’s a license.’ And that solves it. I think that’s what was done in this case. So, that’s the easiest way of dealing with it.”
Of course, as Vincke clarified, things get more complicated if someone is trying to monetarily benefit from a mod, but as long as it’s “clearly fan-based,” it’s fair game. If anything, Vincke seems to see mods as vital for sustaining games long after development is complete and even as a means of promoting games.
“If you’re a company, especially in games or in any entertainment [field], and you have a group of people that spends I don’t know how much time on creating something in honor of your game,” said Vincke, “Especially in another game, I think you should applaud that.
“It’s really cool, right? It’s passion, it’s word-of-mouth, from a marketing point of view, and if it’s good, it’s a contribution to the entire game’s ecosystem.”
Vincke argued that modding can be a huge driver of game’s long-term popularity, as well, citing Skyrim and Warcraft 3 as prime examples.
He even compared the relationship between modders and studios to his relationship with Larian’s developers, commenting, “If you want a game to live, that’s the best way of doing it. It’s the same [with] development.
“If I want our games to be great, I have to make sure the developers own it. If I’m going to be the one owning it, it’s never going to be great because I can’t do everything. I need the developers to do it. Same thing goes with the players. If the players own the game, they’ll make it fantastic.”
Personally, I always love to see developers and studios embracing fans like this, especially when it comes to projects like Baldur’s Village, which clearly took a monumental amount of time and effort to create, all for the sake of sharing free, fan-made content.
And, as Vincke pointed out, mods are a huge part of many games’ communities. Developers are smart to embrace and support modding as a way of supporting their game’s fanbase at large, rather than needlessly pushing back on harmless fan-made content.
I’ve got to agree with the new mantra Vincke repeated throughout the interview: “Happy player, happy business.”
