Swen Vincke

Swen Vincke
Vincke in 2018
Born
Swen Johan Vincke

(1972-05-30) 30 May 1972 (age 52)
Bruges, Belgium
Alma materGhent University
Occupation(s)Video game designer, programmer, director
Years active1996–present
Known forDivinity, Baldur's Gate 3
TitleFounder and CEO of Larian Studios
Children4

Swen Johan Vincke (/ˈsvɛn ˈvɪŋkə/; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsʋɛn ˈjo:ɦɑn ˈvɪŋkə]; born 30 May 1972) is a Belgian video game designer, programmer and director. He is the founder and CEO of the video game company Larian Studios, where he has led the development of the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.

Early life

Vincke was born on 30 May 1972 in Bruges, Belgium, to Robert Vincke and Josiane Goderis.[1][2] He grew up in De Panne, where his parents ran a restaurant.[3][4] He also has an older sister. Vincke developed an interest in programming, arcade and computer games, as well as basketball at a young age.[5][6] He was particularly fascinated by Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing video games such as the Ultima series, which became inspirations for his own games in the future.[7][8] Vincke made his first game, which was a hunting simulator, for his father, while still at school.[5] He attended Ghent University, graduating with a degree in Computer Science.[3][9] He was originally interested in doing speech recognition, but decided to devote himself to making video games when he saw how much fun people were having with his projects.[5]

Career

Vincke founded Larian Studios in 1996.[10] As CEO and creative director, he plays a central role in the company and the development of the games.[11] He was the project leader and lead programmer of Larian's first published game The L.E.D. Wars (1997),[10] followed by the first two installments in the Divinity series, award-winning Divine Divinity (2002) and its sequel Beyond Divinity (2004).[12]

Vincke was also responsible for the design of KetnetKick (2004), an educational video game developed for Flemish children's channel Ketnet. This game has later seen licensed implementations by several other children's channels, such as the British channel CBBC (titled Adventure Rock), French channel Jeunesse TV (titled GulliLand), and Norwegian channel NRK (titled Superia).[13][14] Later he led the creation of a series of new educational games called Monkey Labs (2009) and Monkey Tales (2011).[15][16]

Vincke served as the director, game designer and script contributor on Divinity II, first released in 2009, with the final version released in 2012.[17] Around that time he came to the decision to make Larian a self-publishing company.[18] He then oversaw the production of the spin-off Divinity: Dragon Commander, released in 2013.[19]

At the same time, Vincke worked on the fourth installement in the Divinity main series, titled Divinity: Original Sin, which was released in 2014.[20] The game became a critical and commercial success.[21] He subsequently directed its sequel Divinity: Original Sin II, released in 2017, which was hailed as one of the best role-playing games of all time.[22][23]

After this, Vincke has led the development of Baldur's Gate 3 as its creative director.[24] The game was released in August 2023 to universal acclaim, winning over 200 Game of the Year awards.[25][26][27]

In 2020, Vincke became the first recipient of the Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award for his career and influence on the Belgian games industry.[28] In 2023, Variety included him in the index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.[29][30]

Personal life

Vincke lives in Ghent with his wife and four children.[7][31] In addition to his native Flemish, he speaks fluent French and English.[3][32]

Works

Year Title Role(s)
1997 The L.E.D. Wars Project leader, programming, video production, voices, level editing
2002 Divine Divinity Project leader, lead programmer, engine programming
2004 Beyond Divinity Project leader, lead programmer
2004 KetnetKick Game lead
2009 Divinity II: Ego Draconis Director, game design, additional programming, script contributions
2010 Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance Director, game design, additional programming, script contributions
2013 Divinity: Dragon Commander Director, game design, script contributions
2014 Divinity: Original Sin Director, game design, story
2017 Divinity: Original Sin II Director
2023 Baldur's Gate 3 Director

References

  1. ^ De Preter, Wim (7 December 2023). "Belg Swen Vincke wint topaward voor beste game met 'Baldur's Gate 3'". De Tijd (in Dutch). Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Divine Divinity". MobyGames. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Belgische Outcast". Trends (in Dutch). 6 November 1997. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. ^ Purchese, Robert (14 July 2023). "Larian on signing Baldur's Gate 3, approaching a new era, and games you've never heard about". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Tack, Daniel (7 November 2019). "A Knight In Shining Armor – Swen Vincke Talks The Long Road Of Larian Studios". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  6. ^ Dean, Paul (29 March 2013). "No preconceptions, just predecessors: Larian Studios' Swen Vincke on old school influences". PCGamesN. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  7. ^ a b Valentine, Rebekah (8 April 2022). "Baldur's Gate 3 Was So Huge, Larian Chose to Triple in Size Rather Than Shrink the Game". IGN. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  8. ^ Peel, Jeremy (26 December 2020). "How an obsession with Ultima 7 led to some of the PC's best RPGs". PC Gamer. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  9. ^ Pasian, Alexandra. "Larian Studios selects Wwise for the Future" (PDF). Audiokinetic. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Divinity, The Sword of Lies Interview". IGN RPG Vault. 22 March 2000. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  11. ^ Schreier, Jason (3 August 2023). "The Strange Story Behind 'Baldur's Gate 3,' One of the Year's Biggest Releases". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Beyond Divinity Wrap Report". IGN. 5 June 2004. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Kid's Interactive Community coming to the UK". Games Industry. 27 February 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  14. ^ "GulliLand". Larian.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Monkey Labs". Games Industry. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Main 2011 MEDEA Awards won by Educational Game producers". ATiT. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  17. ^ Chalk, Andy (2 October 2018). "Hour-long documentary looks at the history of Divinity's Larian Studios". PC Gamer. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  18. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (29 January 2012). "Going Solo". Games Industry. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  19. ^ Birnbaum, Ian (29 June 2013). "New Divinity: Dragon Commander video shows over 20 minutes of gameplay". PC Gamer. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  20. ^ Gera, Emily (6 June 2014). "Divinity: Original Sin is delayed by 10 days, launching June 30". Polygon. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  21. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (3 July 2014). "Divinity: Original Sin Larian Studios' fastest-selling game ever". Eurogamer. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  22. ^ Chalk, Andy (24 May 2017). "Divinity: Original Sin 2 will leave Early Access in September". PC Gamer. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  23. ^ Cobbett, Richard (23 October 2017). "RPGs may never top Ultima 7, but Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes close". PC Gamer. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  24. ^ Purchese, Robert (6 June 2019). "It's true: Divinity studio Larian is making Baldur's Gate 3". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  25. ^ Serin, Kaan (29 June 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3's release date jumps up to August 3rd, providing precious breathing room from Starfield". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  26. ^ Park, Morgan (7 December 2023). "'I didn't think we were gonna get it': Baldur's Gate 3 dominates The Game Awards with 6 wins, including GOTY". PC Gamer. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  27. ^ "2024 Awards Category Details Game of the Year". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  28. ^ De bont, Christophe (17 January 2020). "Swen Vincke to receive first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award". FLEGA. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  29. ^ McKenzie, Theodore (20 December 2023). "Swen Vincke, Todd Howard & Sam Lake Join Variety's List of Most Influential Entertainment Figures". 80 Level. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  30. ^ "Swen Vincke - Variety500 - Top 500 Entertainment Business Leaders". Variety. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  31. ^ Dean, Paul (10 January 2014). "Why Divinity: Original Sin might be the RPG you've been waiting for". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  32. ^ Cario, Erwan (13 July 2023). "Silence on Joue ! La démesure de «Baldur's Gate 3», avec Swen Vincke, fondateur de Larian Studios". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2 August 2023.