Larian Studios “Done With D&D” After ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’
At GDC Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke said that Larian plans to move on from D&D, headed for new, exciting territory.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a massive shot in the arm for D&D, especially among people who wouldn’t describe themselves as D&D players first. Larian Studios’ wild romp through the city of Baldur’s Gate and parts beyond, has opened the doors wide to Faerûn for a whole new era. It has helped to crystallize the sights and sounds of D&D in a way few other games have.
But at this year’s Game Developers Conferene (GDC), Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke revealed that the studio plans to move on from D&D entirely. No Baldur’s Gate 4. No DLC. But something new entirely as the studio moves on to follow their “very large” ambitions.
Larian Studios – Something Bigger on the Horizon
According to Vincke, Larian is a company of big ideas with “very large” ambitions. While Baldur’s Gate 3 will remain an incredible triumph that the studio is proud of, they’re not going to be making Baldur’s Gate 4 or releasing DLC for 3.
Instead, as a Larian Studios representative told Kotaku, the RPG powerhouse will work on something that nobody is expecting:
We’re not going to make new expansions, which everybody is expecting us to do. We’re not going to make Baldur’s Gate 4, which everybody is expecting us to do. We’re going to move on. We’re going to move away from D&D, and we’re going to start making a new thing. I’m saying it here because I have a forum and [we’re getting] bombarded by people that expect us to do these things, but that’s not for us. It’s going to be up to Wizards of the Coast, because it’s their IP, to find somebody to take over the torch. We think we did our job and so, for us, it’s time to get a new puppy.
In an interview with GameSpot, Vincke spoke about how Larian plans far ahead, outlining that Divinity Original Sin 2 helped smooth the path for Baldur’s Gate 3. He mentioned that Larian is all about trying to make something really good, “something that you want to play” rather than being about profit.
The love and care that the studio has for its games is so clear in everything they touch. All the little details, all the twists and wrinkles in the story, all the amazing NPCs and weird situations that, surprisingly, the designers planned for, are all a result of Larian’s ambition and attention to detail.
That care, that craft are why Baldur’s Gate 3 stands out as a bar-raising game in its genre. Without passion, though, these would be meaningless. But Larian isn’t done with Baldur’s Gate 3 yet. The studio has plans to keep patching the game for a while, improving things even as they prepare to start the long road to whatever comes next.
In the meantime, you could probably keep making new decisions in Baldur’s Gate 3 until the next game comes out.
