Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3, the party-based role-playing game, has been a smash hit in 2023, bagging several records at the prestigious Game Awards, including the coveted Game of the Year and several others. Seeing the massive success of the game, it was assumed that a sequel would be coming in a few years.
However, the founder and CEO of the studio, Swen Vincke, has said that the studio will not be releasing any DLC or expansions for the game, and there will also be no Baldur’s Gate 4 from the studio. This is big and shocking news for the fans, and the comments from Vincke about the state of the industry could hint at why the studio has made this decision.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Boss’s Comments Hint at Why There Will Be No BG4
Baldur’s Gate 3 won the GDCA Best Narrative award at the Independent Games Festival Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards, which were held as part of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. BG3 Game Director Swen Vincke was present at the GDC, where he spoke about the game publishers and the state of the gaming industry amid the layoffs while collecting the award.
As reported by Eurogamer, Vincke said that “corporate greed” from game publishers is the main reason why there are so many job losses in the industry. He said that “Greed has been fucking this whole thing up for so long since I started” and added, “I’ve been fighting publishers my entire life, and I keep on seeing the same, same, same mistakes over and over and over.”
He further said that the big companies target “quarterly profits,” and once the profits come, they fire people and then hire again or do acquisitions when in need of developers, and it’s in the “same loop again, and it’s just broken.”
Vincke said that companies should “make reserves” and “slow down on the greed.” It is possible that all these things happening in the industry have caused the studio to stir away from Baldur’s Gate.
With No BG3 Expansion or Baldur’s Gate 4, What’s Next for Larian?
Vincke said at the GDC that Larian is a “company of big ideas” and is moving away from Dungeons and Dragons, and as a result, there won’t be any expansions as they failed despite several tries, and it also isn’t working on Baldur’s Gate 4. The IP will now be with the publisher, Wizards of the Coast.
It is assumed that the studio may now go back to working on the Divinity series, as it is one of the games that have come from the developer. The studio has also hinted at the sequel to Divinity: Original Sin, so it might be coming sometime.
It is also possible that the studio is intending to work on an original IP. Regardless, fans can expect the studio to announce its plans in the near future. What are your thoughts about Larian not working on Baldur’s Gate 4? Let us know in the comments.
