Baldur’s Gate 3 Earns Prestigious Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work

Baldur’s Gate 3 has won the award for Best Game or Interactive Work at the Hugo Awards, held in Glasgow, Scotland. This marks only the second time a video game has received this honor, following Hades in 2021 when the category was first introduced temporarily.

The game faced tough competition from several other high-profile nominees, including Alan Wake 2, Dredge, Chants of Sennaar, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

The World Science Fiction Convention (WSFC), which presents the Hugo Awards, made the decision last year to make this category a permanent fixture after its temporary introduction. The WSFC has a long history of celebrating works of science fiction and fantasy, primarily focusing on literature and visual arts. However, recognizing the growing impact of video games on storytelling, they introduced the award for video games and interactive media in 2021, with Hades winning the inaugural award. Now, Baldur’s Gate 3 has joined this prestigious list.

Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios, accepted the award on behalf of the team. In his acceptance speech, he expressed his gratitude for the creation of the award and the recognition of video game writing, which he described as often underestimated. He highlighted:

“Video game writing is often underestimated. It is very, very, very hard work. For Baldur’s Gate 3, we had to create over 174 hours of cinematics just to be able to respect the choices of the players and to make sure that each and every single one of them would have an emotional story that was reflecting their choices and agency.”

This accolade adds to Baldur’s Gate 3’s impressive list of achievements as the game has already won Game of the Year at major ceremonies, including:

• Golden Joystick Awards
• The Game Awards
• D.I.C.E. Awards
• Game Developers Choice Awards
• BAFTA
• Gayming Awards
• Steam Awards 2023

In addition to its critical acclaim, Baldur’s Gate 3 has also been a commercial success, outperforming previous titles from Larian Studios. By March 2024, the game had sold over 15 million copies, according to Vincke.

In terms of revenue, Baldur’s Gate 3 alone captured 21% of Steam’s revenues in 2023. The game also performed exceptionally well this year, with its Steam revenue reaching $127 million in the first six months.

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