Just like that, Larian Studios is done with not just Baldur’s Gate 3, its smash hit 2023 roleplaying game, but with the franchise altogether. And I do mean done, as studio founder Swen Vincke said during a talk at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that the team is moving on from the series.
As reported by IGN, Vincke said during a March 21 GDC talk that Larian Studios isn’t working on an expansion to Baldur’s Gate 3 or a follow-up to the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired RPG. Instead, according to Vincke, the studio is planning to pivot to something new entirely. A Larian Studios representative corroborated IGN’s report in an email to Kotaku, sending over the following quote from Vincke’s talk that “sums [the situation] up” pretty well:
I told you at the beginning that we were a company of big ideas. We are not a company that’s made to create DLCs [or] expansions. We tried that actually, a few times, and it failed every single time. It’s not our thing. Life is too short, our ambitions are very large. And so, like Gustav [the codename for BG3, taken from Swen’s dog who recently passed away], Baldur’s Gate will always have a warm spot in our hearts. We’ll forever be proud of it, but we’re not going to continue in 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. I’m saying it here because I have a forum and [we’re getting] bombarded by people that expect us to do these things, but that’s not for us. It’s going to be up to Wizards of the Coast, because it’s their IP, to find somebody to take over the torch. We think we did our job and so, for us, it’s time to get a new puppy.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a success for Larian Studios since it left Early Access in August 2023. It’s reached over 10 million players and won copious trophies, including Game of the Year at the DICE Awards. With this much financial success and critical acclaim surrounding your game, you’d think Larian Studios might keep the momentum going. Instead, the studio is intent on risk-taking and forging new paths. And honestly, I can respect the hell out of that.