Now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has been an enormous success each critically and financially, individuals are trying ahead to what’s subsequent for developer Larian Studios. Nonetheless, in accordance with studio founder Swen Vincke, the longer term doesn’t lie with the Baldur’s Gate franchise or Dungeons & Dragons as a complete.
Throughout a chat on the Recreation Builders Convention on Thursday (noticed by IGN and confirmed by gamerjive in a video on the official convention TikTok), Vincke mentioned that Larian received’t be engaged on any DLC, expansions, or a sequel for the sport. It could be handing the IP again to Wizards of the Coast and shifting on to unrelated tasks.
“Baldur’s Gate 3 will all the time have a coronary heart — a heat spot in our hearts. We’ll eternally be happy with it, however we’re not going to proceed it. We’re not going to make new expansions, which all people is anticipating us to do. We’re not going to make Baldur’s Gate 4, which all people is anticipating us to do. We’re going to maneuver on, we’re going to maneuver away from D&D, and we’re going to begin making a brand new factor,” he mentioned.
Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian, confirmed the information in a submit on X (previously Twitter). “Had plenty of time to replicate on this unimaginable journey as everybody has, and I can’t clarify how excited I’m for the following. Hope you be a part of us for that!” he wrote.
Vincke spoke extra concerning the resolution with Gamespot. He defined that he initially needed to make extra Baldur’s Gate, however determined towards it.
“That’s not what we have been made for,” Vincke mentioned. “That’s actually the other of what Larian is about. We need to do massive, new issues. We don’t need to rehash the factor that we’ve achieved already.”
All of this doesn’t imply Larian received’t proceed to work on Baldur’s Gate 3. Simply final month, Douse introduced that the group could be engaged on a “cross-platform plan for mod help,” with implementation nonetheless many months away.
Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast, acknowledged how profitable Baldur’s Gate 3 was in its 2023 monetary report launched final month. It said that a lot of Wizard of the Coast and digital gaming’s development could be attributed to Monopoly Go!, Magic: The Gathering, and Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s additionally been an enormous success critically, successful a number of awards. Only a day earlier than the announcement, Baldur’s Gate 3 received 4 trophies on the Recreation Builders Selection Awards (additionally placed on by GDC), together with sport of the yr. It additionally received sport of the yr at The Recreation Awards in 2023.
Hasbro is due to this fact keen on rising its gaming output and leaning on the Baldur’s Gate franchise, as firm CEO Chris Cocks talked about in an earnings name to coincide with the report.
“2024 is about returning client merchandise to profitability, investing for long-term momentum in video games, and driving vital enhancements in Hasbro’s backside line […] In brief, we’re placing all the best items collectively to maintain investing in our development initiatives whereas increasing the methods our franchises attain followers by digital video games,” Cocks mentioned. “We anticipate a protracted tail into 2024 and past for this mega hit.
Nonetheless, Wizards of the Coast was hit with layoffs proper earlier than Christmas 2023, massively impacting the D&D and Magic groups. This contains the group that helped with Baldur’s Gate 3, in accordance with Vincke.
