Speaking at GDC this weekend, Larian Studios founder and CEO Swen Vincke announced that not only would there be no major content expansions for Baldur's Gate 3, but Larian would not be producing any more Dungeons & Dragons games at all.

"Baldur's Gate will always have a warm spot in our heart. We'll forever be proud of it, but we're not gonna continue in it," said Vincke. "We're gonna move on - we're gonna move away from D&D and start making a new thing."

The news is a little surprising, given Baldur's Gate 3's enormous success. It was well-received by both critics and fans, being the best-reviewed game of 2023 on critical aggregators Metacritic and OpenCritic (not to mention a 10/10 review from us at GBAtemp), as well as taking home Game of the Year and Outstanding Story-Rich Game in the fan-voted Steam Awards. It also sold well, having "way over" ten million active users as of February 2024, according to Michael Douse, Director of Publishing at Larian.

While there will be no major expansions for Baldur's Gate 3, Larian isn't completely finished with it yet. Vincke has promised "a bunch of stuff" coming through updates, but no "new content." Speaking to IGN, he confirmed there would be new endings created for evil characters, and cross-platform official mod support for PC and consoles.

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Larian had previously considered making larger DLCs and expansions for Baldur's Gate 3, as mentioned to IGN around the game's launch last August, but those plans never got off the ground. "We are not a company that's made to create DLCs, expansions. We tried that actually, a few times. We failed every time - it's not our thing," according to Vincke in his GDC speech. "Life is too short. Our ambitions are very large."

Vincke has also cited constrictions working with 5th edition (the current D&D ruleset) as a reason the team was eager to move on. "There were a lot of constraints in making D&D, and the 5th Edition is not an easy system to put into a video game, and we had all these ideas of new combat that we wanted to try out, and so they were not compatible," he recently told IGN. He was quick, however, to quell online theories that they were leaving D&D behind due to a bad relationship with Wizards of the Coast, describing them as "a great licensor" who let them do their thing.

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As for what their next project will be, not much is known except that it won't be Baldur's Gate 4. Vincke has previously indicated that a new Divinity title will definitely happen at some point, but it's unclear if that's the studio's next title. Vincke has said they have two games in development, both of which were ideas the studio had before Baldur's Gate 3, and they will be "different from the things that we've done before." But when directly asked by IGN if one of these titles was a new Divinity game, he refused to answer.

 

[Scarlet]

Oh damn that's a shock. Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what's coming next from them next. If they put half as much effort into it as they did BG3 it's gonna slap.

 

[GengarsGhostlyGiggles]

that seems weird considering how much much money and awards they got

 

[ZeroFX]

Larian is the divinity company, so they'll do divinity.

 

[KingVamp]

I expected the worse, when I saw the title, but they just decided not to do it. If a Baldur's Gate happens, the new devs have their work cut out for them.

 

[LightBeam]

Not a big surprise, I think. They already had a great reputation with Divinity. Baldur's Gate 3 took them to the top (the D&D and BD license played a small part). I think it's logical for them to concentrate on a license they own.

I don't know if they'll start working on another license that belongs to someone else, but in any case it's refreshing to see a studio focusing on what it would like to do: make good games, rather than concentrating on something that has worked commercially.

They clearly deserve all the success they've achieved. BD3 isn't even really my kind of game, but it's easy to see the quality and passion/love that went into the project, and whether you like the genre or not, you have to congratulate and support this kind of project.

 

[codezer0]

#BlameTheRedditors

But in all seriousness, even if I couldnt be arsed to give a flying rat poop about anything d&d, I was happy to see BG3 get as much adulation as it did. If they tackle a property I care about, I'd be over the moon to see what they can do with it.

 

[Latiodile]

i'd love to see another RPG from them in the style of divinity II (not original sin)

 

[Ettino]

They can do whatever they want as long as they include dong size slider.

 

[Xzi]

Not that surprising they'd rather do a couple projects from other IPs before returning to Baldur's Gate, Larian has massively boosted the number of people who will buy whatever they make next regardless.

Larian is the divinity company, so they'll do divinity.

It's been stated that their next game will be something entirely original.

 

[urbanman2004]

That's a no-brainer since they don't own the rights to the Baldur's Gate IP. However, I hear they did a helluva job creating the 3rd iterative title in the series, although, I don't know since I've never played it before, ha . From the success of that game, it serves them right to develop their own exclusive IP so they can reap all the benefits/rewards/awards for their efforts.

 

[Quore]

That's it, they're going Full Divinity now.
Maybe (who knows) a new RPG id

To be honest, id love so much to play a BG3-like RPG game but a futuristic sci-fi game

 

[relauby]

It's been stated that their next game will be something entirely original.

Has it? They've implied it, but I've never seen them outright say it, and when IGN asked him directly Vincke wouldn't say yes or no.

 

[wolf-snake]

If Baldur's Gate 4 is ever a thing people will shread it to pieces even if it ends up being pretty good.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

No matter what they said, I refuse to believe Wizards / Hasbro had nothing to do with this. Like the massive layoffs of the team who built the game?

 

[AttackOtter]

No matter what they said, I refuse to believe Wizards / Hasbro had nothing to do with this. Like the massive layoffs of the team who built the game?

They say Wizards didn't do it specifically, nothing about Hasbro having their hands clean.
Wouldn't be surprised if they broke off the partnership because everyone they worked with at Wizards got fired by Hasbro.

 

[Maximumbeans]

They can do whatever they want as long as they include dong size slider.