Baldur’s Gate 4 was playable before it was cancelled admits Larian Studios boss-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Baldur’s Gate 3 – it’s its first year anniversary today (Larian Studios)

The creators of Baldur’s Gate 3 have revealed that not only had they started work on a sequel but that it was already partially playable.

As the surprise hit of 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 instantly propelled developer Larian Studios from obscurity to one of the most celebrated studios in the world. Their response to this was equally surprising, when they announced that they weren’t going to make any DLC for it or be involved in the sequel.

It’s understandable, given they’d have more creative control and 100% of the profits, but it was still a bold decision, since they’ve said their next two games will be entirely new IPs of their own creation.

Given how long games take to make we probably won’t hear anything about those for a while, but what Larian has revealed is that they actually started work on Baldur’s Gate 4 and got it to the point where it was playable.

Back in March, Larian boss Swen Vincke stated: ’We’re not gonna make Baldur’s Gate 4, which everyone is expecting us to do. We’re gonna move on – we’re gonna move away from D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] and start making a new thing.’

The implication was that no work had been done on a sequel, or any DLC, but in recent months Larian has admitted that they were working on something else before their big announcement, something which Vincke now admits was, or could’ve become, Baldur’s Gate 4.

‘We actually started doing that,’ said Vincke in a new interview with PC Gamer, when talking about making an add-on, DLC, or sequel for Baldur’s Gate 3.

‘It’s something that you all would have liked, I think. I’m sure, actually. And we actually went pretty fast, because the production machine was still warm. You could already play stuff.’

‘We thought we’d make it in one year, and then you could see it’s not going to happen, it’s going to take two, three years. And having just done six years of D&D, which is not our own thing, are we really going to spend all this time on this and abandon our own plans? ‘Yeah, maybe not for an add-on, but maybe Baldur’s Gate 4? That makes a lot of sense,’ he said.

His comments about whether it was DLC or a sequel are vague, but it seems as if that decision hadn’t been taken yet. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first major video game sequel that evolved from being DLC to a standalone title, which is the origin for everything from GTA: Vice City to Super Mario Galaxy 2.

‘So why don’t we do it for Baldur’s Gate 4? Oh, yeah, that sounds like a really good idea. Let’s make Baldur’s Gate 4. All the stuff that we did for this thing, we can just move it in there, people are gonna love it. Go for it. And then the same thought process again,’ adds Vincke.

‘Another X amount of years, same thing, exactly the same mechanics, same problems that we actually already solved, just evolving them. And then you start looking at the other things that you had planned and pushing them back, and then you’ve come back to your senses, because by then the vulnerability is gone.’

In other words, Larian didn’t carry on working on Baldur’s Gate 3 because even DLC would’ve taken years to make, and they knew there was a good chance they’d get carried away and it would turn into a full sequel.

There will definitely be a Baldur’s Gate 4, as Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro has already confirmed, but it will be by a different developer and, while they’ve promised it won’t take 25 years to appear, it’ll still be some time.

That’s also the case for Larian’s new projects, although it’s possible that they could start teasing what they’re working on in the next year or so.

Baldur’s Gate 3 – what might a sequel have been? (Larian Studios)

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