Larian Studios is walking away from Baldur’s Gate and that applies to DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3, Baldur’s Gate 4, and any other Dungeons and Dragons adaptations.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s success made Larian Studios one of the most beloved companies in gaming. The company arguably reached the same peaks of popularity that original Baldur’s Gate developers Bioware and Blizzard did during their heydays, even though both have had a long fall since. Despite being the third game in a somewhat niche franchise, Baldur’s Gate 3 has sold over 10 million copies and counting.
On top of the strong sales, Baldur’s Gate 3 also reached the top of Steam player charts and hit an all-time peak of over 800,000 players. With so much support from hardcore DnD fans and casual gamers alike, Baldur’s Gate has become a valuable IP. However, it appears Larian Studios wants nothing to do with the franchise moving forward.
Larian Studios’ founder states the company will not develop Baldur’s Gate 4 or any DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3
Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke stated they have no plans to develop Baldur’s Gate 4, nor will the studio work on Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC.
Instead, he stated at the 2024 Game Developer’s Conference that the studio will leave the IP in the hands of Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro. Given the massive success Baldur’s Gate 3 achieved, this was a shocking statement from the studio. In August 2023, Larian Studios even discussed the possibility of DLC, although it made no commitment.
The studio eventually started work on the DLC, but Vincke noted his team was “going through the motions” and that their efforts weren’t “coming from the heart.” When Vincke finally pulled the plug on Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC and announced a shift to another IP after the Christmas holidays, developers responded positively to working on something new.
Vincke’s prior statements about the games industry hinted at this bombshell. The studio head delivered harsh criticism about the wave of layoffs rocking the industry while accepting an award for Best Narrative at the GDC Awards event.
“Greed has been f—–g this whole thing up for so long since I started,” Vincke said.
He then implored publishers to start taking care of their people instead of focusing on profits. Although Vincke never directly called out Hasbro, fans speculated that he was referencing the conglomerate that laid off more than 1,000 workers over recent months.
Vincke stated in December 2023 that most of the people who greenlit Baldur’s Gate 3 at Wizards of the Coast were laid off by Hasbro, meaning they had few connections left with the publisher. That said, there’s been no shortage of other companies that have laid off employees by the thousands over the last year.
Will there be a Baldur’s Gate 4?
There has been no announcement regarding a Baldur’s Gate 4 but Wizards of the Coast’s parent company stated it will continue making games for the Dungeons and Dragons IP.
“Our Montreal studio is working on a really, really cool D&D game,” Hasbro’s head of game studios, Dan Ayoub, stated in an interview with GamesRadar+.
There are also other projects based on classic IPs like GI Joe. This interview came before Vincke’s announcement, so whether Hasbro can continue what Baldur’s Gate 3 started remains to be seen.