Larian Studios - No more Baldur's Gate

[HellRazor]

I want Larian to reboot the Ultima franchise! License it from EA and bring on Lord British and other former OSI employees as consultants.

 

[TheSHEEEP]

Good for them, really.
DnD as a setting is pretty meh and "been there, done that" at this point. At least Faerun.

But more important than that, DnD5 is an extremely flawed rulesystem that they already had to house rule around like an excentric DM to make it at least somewhat more palatable.
And that gets worse with higher levels, so yeah, good decision.

However, I will be incredibly sad not to get a DLC that lets me dive into Avernus to save Karlach
If there was ever an NPC I'd just want to rip out of a game and say "this is my friend now", it'd be her. So it's mildly frustrating to not be able to give that particular story arc a proper resolution.

 

[bjon045]

Finally, I would not been so bitter if at least they would go back to DOS 3. But no. Of course that one has already grown stale for them, they want to do something new, yet familiar. So it might be another stupid project like Dragon Commander, a game full of great ideas meshed together with an horrible execution. I played it, as I have played all Larian's games, but it was an absolute shit-show. Alternatively, they could chase the terrible new trend to be 'original' at all costs, such as Disco Elysium or Pentiment. Which might be great games, but surely they are not going to be a staple in the cRPG world as BG3 was. Although I would bet that they are going for an action RPG of some sort - maybe even a great idea and a better game, but once again miles away from the cRPG world I care about, a world I thought and hoped BG 3 was destined to revitalize.

In short: thanks Larian for giving me the middle finger.

Where did you get that work on DOS:3 has been stopped? It is possible I guess given that it sounds like they also stopped work on BG3 DLC.

My understanding is that preproduction work on DOS:3 has been underway for over a year now. Of course DOS:3 would require a fraction of the resource that another game like BG3 would require so maybe they do still have a small team working on it. I would be most sad if it has been canned as well.

I'm guessing it wasn't just the creativity aspect though. I previousily guessed the royality cost was somewhere around 10% (based on Hasbro BG3 payments) and that is a hell of a lot of money when you are talking about games that make a billion dollars of revenue+. Creating their own triple AAA IP is likely to a smart move now that Larian has one of the best brand recogintion values in the industry.

I am sad about the no more D&D games though. I would have loved a Curse of Strahd.

 

[Redglyph]

Of course DOS:3 would require a fraction of the resource that another game like BG3 would require so maybe they do still have a small team working on it.

Why? I'd expect them to bring the same quality to whatever they're making, so it should take as many resources. Maybe a little less time, since they had to create their cinematic team and it's now in place, and they've all got more experience in such a big project.

 

[bjon045]

Why? I'd expect them to bring the same quality to whatever they're making, so it should take as many resources. Maybe a little less time, since they had to create their cinematic team and it's now in place, and they've all got more experience in such a big project.

I was thinking a heap of the C&C and reactivity came from D&D. Just think of all the classes, races, background (+ origins) that they had to bake into every conversation and quest and it is easy to see where a big chunk of the work went. Having said that, I guess they could easily ramp up the options with more races/origins...

It might lose what made OS1/2 unique though. Might be easier to just start with a blank slate.

 

[Couchpotato]

Hasbro doesn't seem worried and claims they have another studio.

Hasbro Is Teasing Its Next Big D&D Game, Talks What It Learned From BG3's Success

Hasbro's head of game studios says Baldur's Gate proves the importance of taking the time to get things right.

www.gamespot.com

Well you should be worried as it's the studio that made Dark Alliance.

 

[Vaelith]

I truly hope they go for Baldur's Gate 4 as the title.

 

[Farflame]

Hasbro doesn't seem worried and claims they have another studio.
Well you should be worried as it's the studio that made Dark Alliance.

Is this info about that SURVIVAL D&D game that is in development?
If so then the article is full of PR crap and Hasbro DOESNT LEARN from BG3. They want to use popularity of BG3 to cash on cheap games in popular mainstream genres like survival games. It will be cheaper to make than BG3.

I wonder why they laid off the team that helped make BG3? Did they do it after Larian decided about their future? Or BEFORE that - in accordance to their new strategy (popular survival in DD)?

 

[Couchpotato]

It's just Hasbro trying to act like everything is fine after a huge break-up. Yes there is that life sim based on BG3, but the article mentions another larger game.

Anyway we've been hearing for years Hasbro and WoTc had over a dozen games in development, but every year more get canceled. So who can say at this point in time.

Bottom-line don't expect another BG game for another decade or more.

 

[Stingray]

Hasbro doesn't seem worried and claims they have another studio.

Hasbro Is Teasing Its Next Big D&D Game, Talks What It Learned From BG3's Success

Hasbro's head of game studios says Baldur's Gate proves the importance of taking the time to get things right.

www.gamespot.com

Well you should be worried as it's the studio that made Dark Alliance.

They have a job opening up on their website for a "Principal Gameplay Programmer". It's a small studio, so it's almost certainly for this D&D game they're making. One of the things they want in a candidate is a "Passion for Multiplayer and PVP live Game"

 

[soola]

They have a job opening up on their website for a "Principal Gameplay Programmer". It's a small studio, so it's almost certainly for this D&D game they're making. One of the things they want in a candidate is a "Passion for Multiplayer and PVP live Game"

If it’s Seattle, it’s probably their MtG digital card game…

 

[Stingray]

No, it's Invoke Studios in Montreal. Same studio and location that Couch's article said was working on the new D&D game.

 

[ChaosTheory]

I wonder if it had something to do with Hasbro asking for a shitload more money for an expansion or sequel, and Larian said *middle finger*.

Perhaps they'll turn to Obsidian for Neverwinter Nights 3?

 

[Couchpotato]

More articles with quotes from Swen.

Larian Started, Cancelled ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ DLC, Will Not Make ‘Baldur’s Gate 4’

You might think that one of the most popular games of last year and a runaway GOTY winner may be planning to release DLC and obviously a future sequel. Baldur's Gate 3 isn't.

www.forbes.com

You could see the team was doing it because everyone felt like we had to do it, but it wasn’t really coming from the heart, and we’re very much a studio from the heart. It’s what gotten us into misery and it’s also been the reasons for our success.

Larian Studios Is Officially Done With The Baldur’s Gate Series

A studio rep confirmed what founder Swen Vincke said during the Game Developers Conference

kotaku.com

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.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1771467986701819943

View: https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1771467986701819943

Reading the reddit threads, I would like to clear up something. WOTC is not to blame for us taking a different direction. On the contrary, they really did their best and have been a great licensor for us, letting us do our thing. This is because it's what's best for Larian.

 

[rjshae]

It's great that Larian released a fantastic RPG using the D&D ruleset, but if the developers are going to get burned out by the effort then maybe this isn't the right approach. Personally I prefer the Solasta model: create a great game engine and use it to build the modules. Or better yet license it out and let multiple development companies build games with it. They can make back the money on licensing costs and possibly publication rights.

 

[Farflame]

More articles with quotes from Swen.

It's great that Larian released a fantastic RPG using the D&D ruleset, but if the developers are going to get burned out by the effort then maybe this isn't the right approach.

I dont know if its mentioned in the articles above but its interesting to note that Swen also mentioned somewhere something like "D&D rules are hard to convert to computer RPG. So they want to move away from it."
I think he doesnt mean that they will never do D&D again, just move away for some time.

Regarding being burned out - Im not surprised if Swen likes to do really big RPGs and his dream is to make "very big RPG to dwarf them all".

 

[SveNitoR]

I'm happy they are following their creative side and not just listening to the money. If there's one time in Larian's existence where they can do whatever they like, it's now.

That said I probably would've loved a proper expansion for BG3. Still haven't finished it, but will once my new computer is finished

 

[Farflame]

I want Larian to reboot the Ultima franchise! License it from EA and bring on Lord British and other former OSI employees as consultants.

Im not sure about Lord British after their fiasco with Portalarium ? or what was the name... but Ultima 7 is probably the best RPG for Swen.

If they work on two projects then one would be probably Divinity and one could be Ultima or something else. They have enough money to buy licence now... the only problem could be the idea of EA how Ultima should look like.

 

[JFarrell71]

Im not sure about Lord British after their fiasco with Portalarium ? or what was the name... but Ultima 7 is probably the best RPG for Swen.

If they work on two projects then one would be probably Divinity and one could be Ultima or something else. They have enough money to buy licence now... the only problem could be the idea of EA how Ultima should look like.

A remake? They don't do remakes.

 

[HiddenX]

Let them buy Piranha Bytes and do Gothic 4 together. Both teams love Ultima 7.