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Larian nearly made Baldur's Gate 4, it was partially playable and 'something that you all would have liked', but the studio didn't want to spend another 3 years on it

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/larian-nearly-made-baldurs-gate-4-it-was-partially-playable-and-something-that-you-all-would-have-liked-but-the-studio-didnt-want-to-spend-another-3-years-on-it/

"We should be looking at how we can do stuff that we get excited about."

Larian nearly made Baldur's Gate 4, it was partially playable and 'something that you all would have liked', but the studio didn't want to spend another 3 years on it

9 comments

rockSlayer

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Round out what they have into a standalone dlc and call it a oneshot

MentalEdge

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I doubt there's a lot there.

It sounds like they got pretty far into exploring what they might make, and how much it would take, but decided not to commit because they didn't want to do something half-assed, and going full-tilt on yet more of the same was beginning to feel like squeezing water from a stone.

They might have something playable, and a lot of the plot worked out, but have almost none of that plot be playble.

Asking them to just "throw things together into a DLC real quick" ignores the fact that the final 10% of getting a project done takes 90% of the effort.

BananaTrifleViolin

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I suspect the other big consideration is the IP. When they made BG3, the IP had lain dormant for years and D&D wasn't a priority for Hasbro.

Larian made a hugely successful game and Hasbro sat up and has started talking about how its going to push forward with the IP. The terms for BG4 are probably not as favourable for Larian (maybe they weren't great for BG3). That may be worse revenue split and may also be much more direction and involvement of the IP holder restricting creativity.

Why would Larian expend all that creative effort again on someone else's IP? They can chose what they do next and it will get attention as they are the studio behind the biggest game of 2023. Probably makes sense from the studios perspective not to do BG3, and go back to developing their own IP. And the industry is littered with failed studios screwed over by big publishers or IP holders - I think Larian are very sensible to move on.

MentalEdge

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I for one am ready for some more Divinity, if they go that route.

They kind of did the same thing, briefly exploring the idea of continuing with a sequel to Original Sin 2, before they started development of BG3.

But something new would work for me, too.

TheOctonaut

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While it's nice to have a development team that doesn't have to chase every single possible dollar, and they might go on to make something even better, that final 10% part isn't true.

With the game engine itself now finished, tested by millions of people, a huge amount of work has been done that feels wasted. Putting content into a game engine not only isn't the hardest part (maybe is the most creative part, which can be... hard) but also is usually different people than the ones that create the engine. The engine itself literally has the content split such that another story can be dropped into it.

Maybe mods can pick that up if the process of adding a story get documented?

Maybe their next game will use the same engine, probably with tweaks if some of it is D&D fixated. So maybe rather than make a new D&D game they are starting from 70% into an un-chained RPG game. As an audience it is possible to be both disappointed by the decision not to create more of a thing we love and understanding and supportive of it at the same time. Music fans deal with this all the time. They've obviously earned a lot of trust.

MentalEdge

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that final 10% part isn't true.

It's a figure of speech, and the idea behind it is always true.

As something approaches "almost done" there is always more work still to be done that what it looks like.

SkyeStarfall

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Pretty sure the game engine larian used is the same custom made engine they always used, updated of course, for their other games. Have you played divinity original sin 2?

Cyberspark

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Yeah, that's not how game dev works.

rockSlayer

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I work in the games industry. I know it's not that simple. I'm suggesting that they do their best to rework the stuff they already have.