Larian Studios Comments on Development of Its Next Games

Summary

Larian Studios is focusing on new projects after the final Baldur’s Gate 3 update.
Vincke hints at a “crazy ambitious” next project in development.
Studio faces challenges with two games in progress, aiming for complexity and player agency.

Larian boss Swen Vincke has given gamers a small update on the development of the studio’s next two games. While Larian isn’t fully ready to reveal the projects yet, the minor update is an excellent reminder that the studio has plenty in the works following the recent release of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 8.

Larian’s most recent game, Baldur’s Gate 3, was a critical and commercial success. In the time since its release, Baldur’s Gate 3 has continued to smash sales milestones again and again, with Larian continuing to release updates for the game to add new content and fix bugs. The game’s most recent update was Patch 8, which added features like Photo Mode and crossplay. Larian has confirmed that this was the last major Baldur’s Gate 3 update, freeing up resources for the studio to focus on its next projects.

Baldur’s Gate 4 Has a Huge Uphill Battle Without Larian

With confirmation that Larian Studios will not develop another Baldur’s Gate game, the fourth entry has a major challenge on its hands.

In an interview with GameSpot, Larian boss Swen Vincke confirmed the developer is “deep in the trenches working on our next big thing,” stating its next project is “shaping up quite well, actually, but it’s crazy ambitious. There are so many new things that we can do these days, so it’s complex.” He did stop short of revealing exactly what Larian’s next project is, leaving that up to fan speculation.

Larian’s Swen Vincke Describes Next Project as “Crazy Ambitious”

Vincke also reconfirmed that the developer is still working on two new titles rather than one, which was confirmed last year when Larian opened up a new studio in Warsaw to aid with development. “On top of that, we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to be making two games,” he said. “We’ve talked about that openly, that we’re working on two games. So organising ourselves for that is also not the easiest thing in the universe because we make very complicated games with lots of permutations and agency for players. Predicting when those are going to be finished is hard.” It’s a good point that the complexity of Larian titles may have an impact on the development time – it’s easy to forget that Baldur’s Gate 3 was originally available in Early Access from October 2020.

By the sounds of it, Larian’s upcoming projects won’t be revealed for a while yet. As it moves on from Baldur’s Gate 3, Wizards of the Coast now has to decide which company will work on the next title in the series, which will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Larian’s 2023 effort. Wizards of the Coast has already confirmed that a Baldur’s Gate 3 sequel is happening, but it likely won’t rush into it to capitalize on the series’ current success.