Larian is walking away from Baldur's Gate 3, no DLC, no expansions, no sequel

[Cal Jeffrey]

Wow! Larian Studios stunned the crowd during a panel discussion at the Game Developers Conference. Founder and CEO Swen Vincke revealed that the studio has no interest in expanding upon its massively popular Baldur's Gate 3 RPG. He clarified that fans shouldn't get their hopes up for any DLC, expansions, or a Baldur's Gate 4.

The revelation was shocking. The studio has been tightlipped about numbers, but Baldur's Gate 3 sales estimates range from 7.5 million copies sold to over 20 million, depending on who you ask. The low-range ballpark seems unrealistic, considering the game is available on all major gaming platforms except the Switch. Furthermore, as of last August, it had sold more than 5.2 million units on Steam alone. The overall consensus is a vague "way over 10 million."

Regardless of actual counts, few would deny the game's popularity. Fewer still would have thought Larian would abandon the opportunity to milk more revenue from this potential cash cow. Its developers did provide some post-launch content, including a playable epilogue. Many were confident there was more to come, especially a sequel.

However, Larian did give us hints this would happen. During Gamescom 2023, Senior Product Manager Tom Butler told IGN that the studio would continue with patches for the time being but mentioned a holiday and moving on to something else in the same breath.

"We'll carry on patching for a while and then we're all going to take a holiday and then we'll figure out what we do next," Butler explained. "But at the moment, we genuinely have discussions. We want to do more. We don't know what yet."

Baldur's Gate 3 is already a massive game. The physical version comes on four discs. In my opinion, it's one of the first titles in a long while that I would consider complete at launch – aside from some bugs. It fully has enough content not to warrant the continuous expansion many gamers expect.

Furthermore, Larian said that it is working on a cross-platform modding system it hopes to implement before it parts ways. As we have seen with games like Skyrim and Fallout 4, community-created mods can sometimes rival a studio's own DLC efforts – Fallout: London anyone? So, BG3 will likely have many years of community-supported material in its future.

As for what's next, the studio is best known for its Divinity RPG franchise. Launched in 2002 with the game Divine Divinity, its latest entries, Divinity: Original Sin (2014) and Divinity: Original Sin II (2017), were very well received.

Both earned spots on our ongoing "The Best PC Games (You Should Be Playing)" list, so check them out if you haven't already. Judging by the developer's release cadence, we should be about due for another Divinity game, but who knows?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102356-larian-walking-away-baldur-gate-3-no-dlc.html

 

[The Talking Tech]

Very Smart for the studio to decide against expanding the game or making a sequel any time soon.

When you have something this massively popular anything remotely related it could only hurt the the legacy of the game if ends up being a disappointment.

 

[VitalyT]

What is that Monkey/Chinese/Ogre? The gaming industry is now into man-bear-pig nonsense.

 

[Dimitriid]

They probably cannot reach a decent deal with Hasbro and it's subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast (WotC for short) which are notoriously infamous as of late for basically torpedoing every single property WotC owns (The only part of Hasbro that's actually still profitable and it's literally propping up the entire corporation including their failing toys division for example) By just mistreating third party companies, trying to oversell to current customers to ridiculous amounts (Like a new expansion in some form for magic the gathering literally every single month) and increasing prices while lowering quality to ridiculous levels and lately even entertaining the idea of replacing all art on their products with AI generated stuff and overall, just trying to literally squeeze every single possible penny they can from WotC before the entire corporation just implodes and goes belly up which is not gonna be long at the rate they're burning through customer loyalty.

So given all that as a context they probably demanded Larian would include ridiculous stuff they'd never do like microtransactions, gatcha mechanics, probably something like an advance payment for licensing or something ridiculous like 60 to 80% of total game sale profits, basically there's no low to which Hasbro will no go to if it means a couple extra dollars right now before they're done cleaning up the carcass of WotC while it's still somehow alive.

 

[HeeeF]

What is that Monkey/Chinese/Ogre? The gaming industry is now into man-bear-pig nonsense.

It's called fantasy mate. Nothing that hasn't been done before in novels or movies.

 

[QuaZulu]

What is that Monkey/Chinese/Ogre? The gaming industry is now into man-bear-pig nonsense.

The Githyanki have been around since the late 1970s (a George R. R. Martin novel in 1977 is the first reference I could find). Their physical appearance developed over the next 20 years or so, but they looked pretty similar in BGII (1999). In other words, they're perhaps only new to you.

 

[pencea]

In my opinion, it's one of the first titles in a long while that I would consider complete at launch

In a long time really?

Demon Souls, Persona 5, Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchat & Clank, Returnal, Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy Remake, God of War Ragnarok, Sackboy A Big Adventure, Ghostwire Tokyo, Kena Bridge of Spirts, Final Fantasy 16...etc all came complete

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Good on Larian.

For one thing they must be sick of D&D stuff after cranking out BG for years. They're a small studio and not some corporate game mill so they have the luxury of seeing something to completion and then moving on.

From a "Games as Art" perspective it's nice to see someone put a lid on an excellent work and move on to fresh pastures rather than just keeping exploiting a product until any artistic integrity is bled out of it and it's soulless husk is discarded when the remaining fan base leaves.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I mean, the game is big enough already. Does it really need DLC? Given how poorly the D&D franchise is treated by its owners, its nothing short of a miracle BG3 turned out as good as it did. It seems to me the team is tired of making RPGs, after the sheer number they have pumped out.

Maybe they'll try something new? Like how the GTA guys took breaks and made things like Midnight club back in the day?

 

[Watzupken]

Not having DLC is not an issue. Back in the days, you pay once for a good game, and that’s about it. There is no such nonsense of DLC because the game is complete. Most DLC requires shelling out extra money for gamers, and really like an agile delivery of a partially finished product, and at the same time earn extra money for further deliveries.

 

[wildfirede]

How about Icewind Dale 3

 

[poshflamingos]

What is that Monkey/Chinese/Ogre? The gaming industry is now into man-bear-pig nonsense.

This has got to be the best example of someone being confidently ignorant I've ever seen on this website.
Githyanki (and other giths) has been a recurring race in D&D since the 1st edition.

 

[James Ryan]

To be honest. It doesn't need anything.
I agree with his call on this.

 

[Burty117]

Don't get me wrong, I would love an expansion or two, I really enjoy simply being in the BG3 universe and the characters are great, however, I completely agree with Larian's call on this.

Too many publishers out there push for DLC and sequels that tend to be worse or get worse over time, diluting what was once a great franchise and ruining it completely (Halo comes to mind for me).

They did such a great job with BG3 though, I will eagerly be waiting to see what they do next.

 

[dangh]

I think this is a best option for any game studio which want to keep creativity up. Sure, they could milk it for ages, but that would make people bored and not happy, effectively killing creativity. They will create another great game, still making money, but challenging themself in other directions, keeping stuff fun for them and giving players another, separate game to enjoy from start to finish.
Such approach in our times with game pass and infinite milking is just making me respect them more.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Probably want to control their own destiny not pay more royalties/license fees etc

Plus they are creatives - so probably have 5 or 6 ideas floating around

If they were cynical just redo assets for some other setting
I was curious they have their own engine !!
Divinity 4.0 engine

So they could go anyway , today , victorian england , post-apocalyptic etc

Games are only gonna get more immersive
as a small studio I think they might feel innovate or die creatively

People have been promising most interactive world ever for decades , many games died on the hill

I think there is a huge market for single player non twitch games , non dark souls no diablo 4 monster spamming

Most successful huge single player games are those anyone can play with some simple skills

 

[amghwk]

This is how games are supposed to be released. The final. Only the completed, full games. Just like the boxed games of DOS era. No "DLCs", no sequels, no "work-in-progress", no premature releases with patches to follow, no bullshit. And certainly no star citizen.

 

[kira setsu]

This is how games are supposed to be released. The final. Only the completed, full games. Just like the boxed games of DOS era. No "DLCs", no sequels, no "work-in-progress", no premature releases with patches to follow, no bullshit. And certainly no star citizen.

well.....it was in early access for like three years, so really it was released just as unfinished as everything else these days.

 

[passwordistaco]

In my opinion, it's one of the first titles in a long while that I would consider complete at launch

In a long time really?

Demon Souls, Persona 5, Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchat & Clank, Returnal, Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy Remake, God of War Ragnarok, Sackboy A Big Adventure, Ghostwire Tokyo, Kena Bridge of Spirts, Final Fantasy 16...etc all came complete

I get your point, but FFVII Remake is literally only 1/3 of the project.

 

[waclark]

Probably want to control their own destiny not pay more royalties/license fees etc

Plus they are creatives - so probably have 5 or 6 ideas floating around

If they were cynical just redo assets for some other setting
I was curious they have their own engine !!
Divinity 4.0 engine

So they could go anyway , today , victorian england , post-apocalyptic etc

Games are only gonna get more immersive
as a small studio I think they might feel innovate or die creatively

People have been promising most interactive world ever for decades , many games died on the hill

I think there is a huge market for single player non twitch games , non dark souls no diablo 4 monster spamming

Most successful huge single player games are those anyone can play with some simple skills

I would argue that the royalties or whatever licensing fees are being paid are probably a small percentage of the overall income. If your goal is income, you will pay the licensing fees and price the products at a profitable price point.

The "creatives' are typically the developers and artists, the people running the company are more likely "financials", meaning they care about sustainability and profitability of the company. The financials will always try to move the company in the direction of profit, which is kind of their job.

Certainly they could repurpose much of BGIII into another genre but it's still going to be DnD under the covers. I do like BGIII, but it's not quite as immersive with a turn-based battle system. I suspect over the next 5-10 years we are going to see games with more immersion, maybe VR/AR based once that tech gets better and more affordable.

Single player games have their place, no doubt. However, personally, I prefer multi-player, co-op, pvp etc games. To me that is what a game is, multi-player, otherwise you're just playing solitaire. Nothing wrong with single player but I find that if I play single player games they are usually mobile (phone/tablet) and I can play them without having to be sitting at my computer at home.

The great thing is there are plenty of good games to play of all types an d genres. The trouble is finding the time to play them.

 

[poohbear]

Not having DLC is not an issue. Back in the days, you pay once for a good game, and that’s about it. There is no such nonsense of DLC because the game is complete. Most DLC requires shelling out extra money for gamers, and really like an agile delivery of a partially finished product, and at the same time earn extra money for further deliveries.

uhm, "back in the day you pay once for a good game" is quite a ways back bruv!

Not having DLC is not an issue. Back in the days, you pay once for a good game, and that’s about it. There is no such nonsense of DLC because the game is complete. Most DLC requires shelling out extra money for gamers, and really like an agile delivery of a partially finished product, and at the same time earn extra money for further deliveries.

This. I've played hours and I'm still on the first act!

 

[amghwk]

well.....it was in early access for like three years, so really it was released just as unfinished as everything else these days.

Sigh....you are right too.

 

[vimann]

Divinity Original Sin 3 please

 

[mrSister]

Nice but I would like to see what these guys are capable of making outside the turn based rpg genre. I hope their next game is something easier to approach.

 

[Bamda]

Mic drop moment. LOL