Baldur’s Gate 3, the RPG from Larian Studios is one of the best titles that released last year. The game was praised by fans and critics alike, sold won several awards at multiple stages.
The game also had a troublesome development journey and one of the biggest setback was related to the studio’s Russia-based staff. Larian Studios’ CEO and game director Swen Vincke has shared how he managed to handle it.
Russia-Based Staff Working on Baldur’s Gate 3 Were Relocated During Development
Baldur’s Gate 3 was an unexpected but deserving hit and it wasn’t without challenges. In a conversation with Edge magazine, via GamesRadar, Swen Vincke revealed that Russia and Ukraine conflict was one of the biggest issues during the development of the game.
When the conflict began, the game was in development at company’s studios across the world, including the St. Petersburg studio in Russia. The company had to shut down the studio as Vincke was already prepared if it actually happends, “I had already thought about what we were going to do if it actually happened,” said Vincke.
The decision was instant, We can’t stay here. We needed to move people away because, as these things go, you can almost predict that eventually there’s going to be mobilization, and that meant that all of my team was going to go to war.
The studio operations, finance, and legal teams worked together to provide solutions to the staff and help them relocate to other studios. As a result of “fighting with embassies and consulates,” more than 90% of the staff from St. Petersburg studio were relocated.
The Relocation Caused Problems in Game’s Development
Swen Vincke praised the teams for working on this and said that he is “super-proud” of them for their work. Although it was very complicated, Larian was successful in getting its staff out of the St. Petersburg studio before they were drafted into the army.
He stated that the studio need them to finish Baldur’s Gate 3 but it did face problems. Vincke stated,
In a machine as complicated as an RPG, where everything’s connected to everything, if you suddenly start ripping stuff out, the entire thing collapses. Because things that were supposed to be done are not being done.\
He added that the problems were not because the team did not try but it was difficult due to the studio’s closure and “the ripple effect of that lasting all through the end of development.” This led to making some compromises and cutting some stuff from the game.
However, despite all issues, Larian Studios was successful in creating an amazing game that went to win countless accolades. Baldur’s Gate 3 won covered Game of the Year awards at The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, and the BAFTA Game Awards.
Have you played Baldur’s Gate 3? What are you thoughts about it? Let us know in the comments!
