1y ago

'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate

www.pcgamer.com

Games @sh.itjust.works

nanoUFO @sh.itjust.works

1y ago

'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate

www.pcgamer.com /we-dont-have-shareholders-but-we-also-dont-think-about-them-larian-studios-uses-its-stage-time-at-the-dice-awards-to-speak-out-against-a-brutal-industry-climate/

PC Gaming @lemmy.ca

alessandro @lemmy.ca

1y ago

'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate

www.pcgamer.com /we-dont-have-shareholders-but-we-also-dont-think-about-them-larian-studios-uses-its-stage-time-at-the-dice-awards-to-speak-out-against-a-brutal-industry-climate/

79 comments

Larian Studios does technically have a single shareholder in Tencent—which owns around 30% of the company. However, an important piece of context is that Tencent appears to own what's called a "preference" share, meaning that Tencent doesn't have voting rights when it comes to Larian's decision making. The rest of the company belongs to CEO and Founder Swen Vincke and his wife.
Interesting, did not know that.
- This is great but my fear is that one day he will go public and not share the profits with the employees. I worked at a company like that. Said they would never sell until they did for a record amount that they didn't really share with the employees.
- The US needs more mutual companies in general but it could work for a gaming company too.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_organization
- Few people do because Larian keeps lying about it. Part of me understands you don‘t go around telling people a Chinese government asset has big money in your company, given the ongoing genocide and all (speaking of toxic work environment eh) but it‘s publicly accessible information anyway. They‘ve been so consistently dishonest about it that I can‘t take them all that serious about anything anymore. Because alternatively to lying they could just… shut up and keep making great games. They don‘t need that sugar coating.
  
  Did you not read the article?
  Tencent own preference stock. They could sell their stock, which could potentially harm the company, but they hold no voting rights and carry no decision making power.
  I am not a fan of China, nor Tencent, but spewing bile without understanding the context does NOT help this discourse.
You know, they got a point. You gotta believe in the project, and when you do it properly, you will make the money back, and much more.
- Okay, but where's that money coming from? Someone has to upfront pay for things. Larian are lucky, they have a majory investor that was not looking for any control, they released in early access and had runway money from previous projects to go with. They are the exception, not the rule, unfortunately.
  Publishers no longer publish third parties for the most part, so everyone who isn't a subsidiary of a large company has to find funding somewhere.
  
  From me for example. I follow this studio and team since many years and i've participated to the funding of Divinity: Original Sin (DOS) more than a decade ago...
  They got money from several sources but mainly because (or i should say thanks to) they delivered good products, they have being able to survive and work on BG3. Luck is not the reason, they've worked hard to achieve that...
  
  Indy studios exist and some self fund. They're not going to be releasing AAA games, but they're not expected to.
  But yes, if you want to create the game equivalent of an MCU film, you need significant starting capital.
  
  You want tell me that to run a good business, one has to be able to negotiate preferable terms with investors?
Building games that are actually fun is going to make you the most money, that's it.
Say it louder for the publishers in the back.
It's infuriating how game design is devolving into engagement treadmills instead of simply being fun, concise experiences. The industry needs more Hi-Fi Rushes and less Suicide Squads.
- Also, does the point of creating a game have to be making the "most" money? Isn't it enough to make something awesome and a profit?
I don't really enjoy their games, but I love them as a studio
The problem is publishers and the huge risk you're selling to create a hit. You still have shareholders. Those who take the risk in financing a game development and those who own the IP.
Unless you got extremely lucky and can gamble with your own cash you always have shareholders in game development.
Based Larian
every company has shareholders, including larian studios
you can't set up a company without specifying shareholders
- No they don't, and you can totally set up a company without shareholders. LLCs have no shareholders for instance.
  
  I am pretty sure I read article somewhere which said tencent has shares in larian.
  
  An LLC or any other corporate structure can have shareholders. It all depends on the structure laid out in the organizing documents. You may have meant private companies don’t have shareholders, but even that isn’t the case.
  
  Can you please share some reference material around this? I would like to read up more about it.
  
  shareholders...owners... who cares about the vernacular. There's always the ownership. An organization of any size is only as good as it's current ownership.
  People grow old and eventually die. When ownership passes on from someone who isn't in it for the money to someone who just wants money... even the greatest of organizations can and will fall. I just hope to christ Gabe Newell's successor(s) are in line with his actions.
- Stakeholders aren't necessarily shareholders.
  They're talking about being a publicly traded company. Of course every company has stakeholders. Of course everyone who works at Larian likes getting paid for their work.

79 comments