Larian started and canceled the “Baldur's Gate 3” DLC, and will not make “Baldur's Gate 4”

You would think that one of last year's most popular games and a GOTY winner would be planning to release DLC and obviously a future sequel. But in the case of Baldur's Gate 3, neither happened. Why? It makes more sense than you might imagine.

In GDCBaldur's Gate 3 director Swen Finke said that while Larian started the DLC at one point, he ultimately canceled it because the team's heart wasn't in it:

“You could see that 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. That's what got us into misery and it's also been the reasons for our success.”

He said that when it was cancelled, the team was “ecstatic”, and everyone agreed that they just wanted to close the game (Baldur's Gate 3 has had several big patches since launch, including adding some new content).

They also won't be making Baldur's Gate 4, saying another studio could “pick up this amazing legacy.” You may understand the logic of the DLC, but there is no sequel? Again, there is a reason for this.

Larian plans to work on a new project that will “leave the intellectual property in the hands of Wizards of the Coast.” While a large portion of players may not realize that Baldur's Gate He is As Wizards of the Coast owned IP, what this meant was that Larian, with its massive success, was handing tens of millions of dollars directly to WotC rather than being able to keep that, despite being a completely independent publisher. So you can imagine why they felt like next time they could build a great new game without Need to do this, exempt from the unavoidable IP tax.

We don't know what Larian's next project will be, other than Divinity's other original sin. Vincke says it will “dwarf” the scope of Baldur's Gate 3, which seems pretty crazy for a game where players can easily spend 200-300+ hours inside it, and it has remained in the top 10 games on Steam since August despite being single-player only because The enormous amount you can do with it.

It feels like the right decision on both fronts, both for the DLC and the decision not to make another sequel, which will likely take the better part of the next decade. But I think everyone can't wait to see what Larian does next.

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