Speaking at GDC 2024, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke revealed that Larian Studios will be adding DLC, expansions, and more to the acclaimed RPG, which once again won Game of the Year at Wednesday’s Game Developers’ Choice Awards. announced that they would not be producing a sequel. However, in an interview with IGN, Vinke said that Larian started work on the DLC and also considered a potential Baldur’s Gate 4 before pivoting to other projects.
“With such success, it was natural to create DLC. So we started doing DLC, and we started looking at BG4 as well,” says Vinke. “However, since we were not yet serious about developing BG3, it felt wrong to jump into something new. We also felt that it would be wrong to jump into something new. We wanted to do something new because we had spent so much time on it. “D&D had a lot of constraints in its creation, and 5th Edition wasn’t an easy system to incorporate into a video game. I had all these ideas for new battles that I wanted to try, but they just weren’t compatible.”
Vinke has previously talked about the challenges of working on 5th Edition, specifically how powerful it becomes once players reach level 12 and beyond. Shortly after release, Larian Studios said that the team wants to create new content, but they don’t know what they will do yet. Up until now, Larian Studios has primarily focused on adding content that wasn’t available at launch, such as new epilogues and additional endings.
But when it came time to create the DLC, Vinke says Larian was well prepared. “I could see that the team was doing it because we all felt like we had to, but it wasn’t something that came from the heart, we were a studio from the heart. That didn’t put us in a dire situation. That was the reason for our success. ”
“They were overjoyed.”
Vinke took time off during the Christmas break, but said he was determined when he returned. ‘[I] When I came back, I said to the team, “You know we’re not going to do that.” We turned around and talked about what we had planned before we started BG3. I’m going to start doing other things. ” Those are always the plans after that, we have two games we want to make and we have a lot of concepts. Let’s end BG3 with this. It was very good. we finished the job. It’s a story with a beginning, middle, and end. So let’s pass the torch to another studio to continue this incredible legacy. ”
When asked about the studio’s reaction, Wincke said the team was “over the moon.”
“I thought they would be angry at me because I couldn’t muster the energy.” I unexpectedly saw so many happy faces, and I realized that we felt the same way, and it made me feel as one. So many developers came up to me after that and said, ‘Thank God,'” Vinke says.
“I always start with the first idea, and then I give it to the team and they start iterating on it and making it better. During BG3, I told them what the next game was going to be. You’d see them excited and say, “Okay, let’s try it.” If not, you’re back to square one. So they were very excited about some of the things we have planned. Then the pivot to start BG3 DLC was expected because that’s your job…I had no animosity towards BG4 or DLC, but my heart wasn’t in it. It was more routine work than actual excitement. Now we’re bringing excitement back to the venue and that’s really important. ”
Vinke said the next game will not be Divinity: Original Sin 3, but will be “different than you think,” but “still familiar.” Vinke said elsewhere that the new project would: Baldur’s Gate 3 scope “Dwarf”given the scope of that game, this would be quite impressive.
Meanwhile, Vincke confirmed that Larian Studios is still working on further new content for Baldur’s Gate 3, including cross-platform mod support. But then the future of Astarion, Karlach, and the rest of the currently beloved Baldur’s Gate 3 characters will be in the hands of Wizards of the Coast.
Either way, Baldur’s Gate 3 leaves behind an impressive legacy. We gave it a perfect 10 in our original review and it dominated most of awards season. Even if you’re done with that, there’s still a lot to see, so be sure to check out our complete walkthrough for Baldur’s Gate 3. As for Vincke, he thinks he has found the first act of his next game. But if he’s anything like the development of Baldur’s Gate 3, which took about six years to complete, it might be a while before we’re able to play it.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s news director and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Any tips? DM her at @the_katbot.
