One Year Later, Larian Reflects On Baldur's Gate 3's Success, Future Plans, And Canceling DLC: "Ever Since, We've Felt Better"
With Baldur's Gate 3's final update approaching, Larian Studios looks back and looks forward without regrets.
One Year Later, Larian Reflects On Baldur's Gate 3's Success, Future Plans, And Canceling DLC: "Ever Since, We've Felt
In July of 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 was hardly a blip on my radar. When it was released one month later, it became one of my favorite games of all time.
Now, the game is celebrating its one-year anniversary. Its seventh major patch, which will add official modding support and new endings to the game, is right around the corner, and developer Larian Studios launched a brand new YouTube channel to provide behind-the-scenes looks at the game and its developers. Between its critical acclaim, numerous awards, and financial success, Baldur's Gate 3 is worth celebrating, but its meteoric rise to success was just as surprising to the developers at Larian as it was to the rest of the gaming community.
"At every single point, I thought it was going to stop," game director Swen Vincke says of the game's success. "I remember arguing with our director of publishing, who said, 'This is going to sell a lot.' I said, 'That's impossible. The number you're saying is just not possible.'"
The interview with Vincke is done virtually, but while I'm home in my office, Vincke answers my call from the passenger seat of a moving car. He's the only one who can hear me, but he informs me of potential background noise from the backseat of the car, which is currently filled with several other developers who worked on the game. I don't know exactly where they're headed, but to schedule an interview for the travel time from one place to another makes one thing abundantly clear – Vincke is a busy man, but he's not ready to share the project taking up all of his time.
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