When Baldur’s Gate 3 came out in 2023, it was truly a “game of surprises.” For example, despite it being released in 2023, it was a title that had been on Steam Early Access for a long time. Larian Studios had used that service to help weed out all the bugs and ensure that the game was as good as it could be. Second, despite it having “some hype” going into release, it soon became a best-selling title and the eventual Game of the Year for many people and critics. Third, it did all of this while using the D&D style of gameplay in the grandest way possible, which many didn’t expect to work.
That doesn’t even mention all the incredible characters like Karlach, Astarion and Shadowheart, who are now iconic despite not even being two years old. Finally, Larian Studios made the bold choice not to follow up on the game after its success, nor craft any DLC for it. Instead, all the updates came via patches. These were substantial patches, mind you, and the most recent one, Patch 8, just released, helping “complete” the game in a significant fashion.
In an interview with GameSpot, Director, and Larian Studios head Swen Vincke made it clear why his team didn’t go the DLC route:
“It’s boring. That’s the really honest answer. We tried to be in the DLC business, we talked about that with BG3 and just… it’s no passion. Happy player, happy business, but you also need to have happy developer for a happy player. What we’re doing now makes developers way more happy. We aren’t because… this is what we were supposed to do, you’re right. Oh, you’ve got a huge game, huge hit, gotta make DLC this, and DLC that, and DLC there, and DLC there, and the money’s gonna pile up all high. We just nodded and said ‘yeah we’ll make DLCs.’ And then the moment we had some time to think, we realized, ‘what are you doing?'”
Again, that might sound like a surprising thing to hear, but it’s more nuanced than that. Larian Studios, and especially Swen Vincke, see themselves as “purists” in certain senses. They’re not ones to “follow the path most traveled” if it means making something subpar in quality. His famous speech at The Game Awards last year made it clear that “Game of the Year” winners would always be those who pushed boundaries, had fun making games, didn’t worry about profits, and wanted to do right by gamers.
Larian Studios did that with Baldur’s Gate 3, so they’re now moving on.
