Now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a huge success both critically and financially, people are looking forward to what’s next for developer Larian Studios. However, according to studio founder Swen Vincke, the future doesn’t lie with the Baldur’s Gate franchise or Dungeons & Dragons as a whole.
During a talk at the Game Developers Conference on Thursday (spotted by IGN and confirmed by playtecharena in a video on the official conference TikTok), Vincke said that Larian won’t be working on any DLC, expansions, or a sequel for the game. It would be handing the IP back to Wizards of the Coast and moving on to unrelated projects.
“Baldur’s Gate 3 will always have a heart — a warm spot in our hearts. We’ll forever be proud of it, but we’re not going to continue it. 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,” he said.
Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian, confirmed the news in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Had a lot of time to reflect on this incredible adventure as everyone has, and I can’t explain how excited I am for the next. Hope you join us for that!” he wrote.
Vincke spoke more about the decision with Gamespot. He explained that he initially wanted to make more Baldur’s Gate, but decided against it.
“That’s not what we were made for,” Vincke said. “That’s literally the opposite of what Larian is about. We want to do big, new things. We don’t want to rehash the thing that we’ve done already.”
All of this doesn’t mean Larian won’t continue to work on Baldur’s Gate 3. Just last month, Douse announced that the team would be working on a “cross-platform plan for mod support,” with implementation still many months away.
Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast, recognized how successful Baldur’s Gate 3 was in its 2023 financial report released last month. It stated that much of Wizard of the Coast and digital gaming’s growth can be attributed to Monopoly Go!, Magic: The Gathering, and Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s also been a huge success critically, winning multiple awards. Just a day before the announcement, Baldur’s Gate 3 won four trophies at the Game Developers Choice Awards (also put on by GDC), including game of the year. It also won game of the year at The Game Awards in 2023.
Hasbro is therefore interested in growing its gaming output and leaning on the Baldur’s Gate franchise, as company CEO Chris Cocks mentioned in an earnings call to coincide with the report.
“2024 is about returning consumer products to profitability, investing for long-term momentum in games, and driving significant improvements in Hasbro’s bottom line […] In short, we’re putting all the right pieces together to keep investing in our growth initiatives while expanding the ways our franchises reach fans through digital games,” Cocks said. “We expect a long tail into 2024 and beyond for this mega hit.
However, Wizards of the Coast was hit with layoffs right before Christmas 2023, massively impacting the D&D and Magic teams. This includes the team that helped with Baldur’s Gate 3, according to Vincke.
