Swen Vincke urges civility after Highguard launch amid toxic backlash

The launch of Highguard this week has produced a torrent of negative reaction online, and Baldur’s Gate 3 director and Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke took to X to urge more civility toward creators. Vincke wrote that he does not like “people shitting on things others have created” and suggested waiting for a Metacritic score before assigning blame.

The article notes over a hundred people worked for years on Highguard, yet social media quickly filled with users “dunking on the game for clout” and Steam reviews from people who barely touched it, often judging the title largely on hardware performance. The piece argues algorithms and short-form content reward rage-bait and snap judgments that amplify that behavior.

Vincke’s short posts asked for less personal nastiness and more empathy for creators, comparing the vulnerability of releasing work to the nervousness of reciting in front of a class and urging people to “be nice to one another, be nice to the people creating stuff to entertain you.” Other industry figures expressed similar dismay.

Cliff Bleszinski asked “When did it become trendy to hate on a new game?” on X, Epic co-founder Mark Reign called the reaction “downright horrible,” and Remedy Communications Director Thomas Puha said he was disheartened by how player counts have been weaponized into negative headlines.

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