Larian Studios achieved almost flawless results with the release of Baldur's Gate 3 during the summer of 2023. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful with more than 10 million games sold, the studio is on the rise, but does not seem ready to develop a sequel. However, Hasbro intends to enjoy the Dungeons & Dragons license for a while longer.
Larian Studios will not make Baldur's Gate 4
Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing game that takes place in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, a license that has belonged to Hasbro since the company offered Wizards of the Coast in 1999.
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But even though Larian Studios was thrust into the spotlight with Baldur's Gate 3, the Belgian studio recently indicated that it had started work on Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, but the content was ultimately canceled. Swen Vincke, the founder of Larian Studios, also revealed that the development of Baldur's Gate 4 was indeed considered, but ultimately put aside to look at something new.
Given the success, the most obvious thing would have been to do a DLC and so we started making one. We even started thinking about Baldur's Gate 4. But we hadn't yet finished Baldur's Gate 3 and moving forward with something new didn't seem wise.
[…]
You know, we're not going to do it. We're going to pivot and start doing these other things that we talked about, that we planned to do before we started Baldur's Gate.
Hasbro is looking for a studio but is not in such a hurry
On the occasion of the new success of Baldur's Gate 3 at the BAFTA Awards, PCGamer asked Eugene Evans, senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing at Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, about the future of the series.
The good news is that a sequel is definitely planned, but the company is still studying its options to determine what it will look like and which developer will be responsible for creating it. Even if Hasbro is determined to use its license and not wait another 25 years between two episodes, the publisher wants to find the right team.
We are currently talking to and being approached by many partners who are taking on the challenge of the future of the Baldur's Gate franchise.
We hope we don't have to wait 25 years, as was the case between Baldur's Gate 2 and 3, to answer this question. But we will take our time to find the right partner, the right approach and the right product that could represent the future of Baldur's Gate.
We take this very, very seriously, as we do with all decisions regarding our portfolio. We're not rushing to decide who we're going to partner with on products or what products we should consider.
As for some of the most beloved companion characters in RPG history like Shadowheart, Astarion, and the rest of the gang, Swen Vincke has confirmed that they now belong to Wizards of the Coast, and no longer Larian.
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Larian created a group of much-loved characters, who were even celebrated by their nominations, the voice actors and the talent behind them were celebrated at the [BAFTAS]. And they are now an integral part of the D&D canon.
I think it's too early to give specifics and the question of how we approach Baldur's Gate in the future is much larger. But I would like to think that all of these characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products.
Baldur's Gate 4 should therefore see the light of day, and before 2050, but we still have to find the right team to take care of it. “The bar has been set very high, and it is up to us to reach and exceed it”confirmed Swen Vincke.