Dataminers have found an interesting piece of information regarding Baldur’s Gate 3.
As found by Redditor Sad_Bat1933, Mobygames has a staff credit for Baldur’s Gate 3 for someone from Nintendo.
The Mobygames page for Etsushi Iizuka has him listed, simply, with Special Thanks for Baldur’s Gate 3 from 2020. Iizuka’s credits shows that he has worked on many games with non-Nintendo companies. For example, after the Baldur’s Gate 3 credit, Iizuka also received credits for Disney Illusion Island, and Shin Megami Tensei V, which is a Nintendo Switch exclusive. These are third party games made for the Nintendo Switch, but it isn’t that simple.
Other credits show that Iizuka worked on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, two games that were published by Nintendo, but involved many licenses from other companies. Iizuka also worked on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, as well as Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, an arcade kart racing game developed by Namco, and on license from Nintendo.
So in many different ways, Iizuka has been working for Nintendo, by coordinating with other companies. His specialty seems to have been working to get games made for Nintendo platforms with other company licenses, but he also did work on one arcade Mario Kart racer.
The speculation going around here is that Iizuka’s involvement with Baldur’s Gate 3 may mean that the game is coming to a Nintendo platform. If it isn’t being ported to the Nintendo Switch now, Larian Studios may be targeting the rumored Switch 2.
The reason many fans believe that this could be the case is that Larian Studios has publishing their prior RPG hit, Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch.
But, we should not be hasty in jumping to conclusions. Special Thanks credits don’t really have any particular job tied to it, and many times it isn’t even necessary.
Now, it is somewhat strange that MobyGames’ listing for Iizuka’s job on most projects is a Special Thanks credit. It certainly reflects a continuing reluctance on the part of the game industry, in this case, Nintendo, from disclosing details about their business. They may not really need to place Iizuka’s work in secrecy.
All things told, this doesn’t confirm anything about a Baldur’s Gate 3 port to any Nintendo platform. Iizuka may simply have some friends in Larian Studios. Having said that, none of us should be surprised if Nintendo makes an announcement about this game in the coming months.
