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 does not lie with Baldur’s Gate franchise or Dungeons & Dragons as a whole.
During a lecture at the Game Developers Conference on Thursday (spotted by IGN and confirmed by Polygon in a video on the official conference TikTok), Vincke said that Larian will not be working on any DLC, expansions or a sequel for the game. It would return the IP to Wizards of the Coast and move on to unrelated projects.
“Baldur’s Gate 3 will always have a heart – a warm place in our hearts. We will be proud of it forever, but we won’t continue with it. We are not going to make any new extensions, which everyone expects from us. We’re not going to do that Baldur’s Gate 4, what everyone expects from us. We’re going to move on, we’re going to move away from D&D and we’re going to make something new,” he said.
Michael Douse, publishing director at Larian, confirmed the news in a press release post on X (formerly Twitter). “I, like everyone else, have had a lot of time to think about this incredible adventure, and I can’t explain how excited I am for the next one. I hope you’ll 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.
“We are not made for that,” said Vincke. “That is literally the opposite of what Larian is about. We want to do big, new things. We don’t want to repeat what we’ve already done.”
All this does not mean that Larian will not continue working Baldur’s Gate 3. Last month, Douse announced that the team would be working on a “cross-platform mod support plan,” with implementation still many months away.
Hasbro, owner of Wizards of the Coast, acknowledged how successful it was Baldur’s Gate 3 was inside the 2023 financial report published last month. It has been stated that much of the growth of Wizard of the Coast and digital gaming can be attributed to this Monopoly Go!, Magic: The Gathering, And Baldur’s Gate 3. It was also a huge success critically and won several awards. Just a day before the announcement, Baldur’s Gate 3 won four trophies at the Game Developers Choice Awards (also presented 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 increasing its gaming production and is leaning on the Baldur’s Gate franchise. as company CEO Chris Cocks mentioned in a revenue calling coincide with the report.
“2024 is about making consumer products profitable again, investing in games for long-term momentum and driving significant improvements in Hasbro’s bottom line (…) In short, we are putting together the right pieces to continue investing in our growth initiatives as we expand the ways our franchises reach fans through digital games,” said Cocks. “We expect a long tail until 2024 and beyond for this mega hit.
However, Wizards of the Coast was hit with layoffs just before Christmas 2023, which had a huge impact on the D&D and Magic teams. This also applies to the team that helped Baldur’s Gate 3, according to Vincke.