The developer of Baldur's Gate 3 initially began working on a sequel because it was “the obvious thing to do”

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Larian began pursuing work on the beloved Baldur's Gate 3 last year, as it was “the obvious thing” to do, before ultimately deciding to change course.

Speaking to PC Gamer on the anniversary of Baldur's Gate 3's full release, Larian boss Swen Vincke said that the initial decision to continue working on the Dungeons & Dragons-based franchise saw his team focus on an obvious follow-up – an idea that appears to have been initially pitched as an expansion, before being considered as the basis for a potential Baldur's Gate 4.

“It's something that all of you would have liked, I think,” Vincke said. “I'm sure of it, actually. And we went pretty fast, because the production machine was still hot. You could already play something.”

So why did the plans change? Vincke says the idea was initially something the team thought they could do in a year, as what sounds like an expansion, but then realized it would take much longer.

Newsletter: If Larian isn't making Baldur's Gate 4, what developer is? Watch on YouTube

“It's going to take two, three years. And having just done six years of D&D, which is not our stuff, are we really going to spend all this time on this and abandon our plans? Yeah, maybe not for an add-on, but maybe BG4? That makes a lot of sense. So why don't we do it for BG4? Oh, yeah, that sounds like a really good idea. Let's do BG4. Everything we've done for this thing, we can just move it over there, people are going to love it. Come on.”

But that then triggered a similar thought process, Vincke continued, with the team considering whether they really wanted to continue to push back their plans even longer to start another giant D&D game development. After some reconsideration over the Christmas break, the decision was made to do something completely different.

“It changed very quickly and I don't think we've ever felt better as developers since we made that decision,” Vincke concluded. “Honestly, you can't really explain or express how liberated we are. So the spirits are super high, just because we're doing new things again. We're doing our thing again, we're not rehashing, we're not trying to convert 50-year-old rules into something new.”

Little is known about what Larian will be developing next, other than that it has two projects in the works and that another early access launch is likely. We do know, however, that it definitely won't be Baldur's Gate 4, although that won't stop another studio from stepping in to make it in its place.

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