In March Larian announces that it will not make the next Baldur’s Gate game. The overwhelming success of Baldur’s Gate 3 has explosively revived the classic role-playing series, but will it be as popular without Larian and who will continue it?
This is the question Hasbro, the owner of Wizards of the Coast and, consequently, D&D, is currently looking for an answer to. Robin Valentine of PC Gamer spoke with Eugene Evans, senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing at Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, about how the game series will develop. The good news is that the continuation of the games is very important for the company, but the company is still exploring what form this might take and who will do it.
«We’re talking to a lot of partners right now, and we’ve been approached by a lot of them who are taking up the challenge [of] what the future of the Baldur’s Gate franchise will look like. So we certainly hope that we don’t have to wait another 25 years, like we did between Baldur’s Gate 2 and 3, before we answer that question. But we’re not going to rush before we find the right partner, the right approach, and the right product to represent the future of Baldur’s Gate. We take this very, very seriously, as we do all decisions about our portfolio. We don’t rush into decisions about who we’re going to partner with and what products we’re going to release,» says Eugene Evans.
It’s not just the future of the franchise that’s in question. Baldur’s Gate 3 introduced players to some of the best companion characters in the history of role-playing games — there are some concerns among fans about what might happen to Shedowhart, Astarion, and the rest of the team after Sven Winke said that the rights to them now belong to Wizards of the Coast, not Larian.
«Larian created beloved characters that even had their own nominations with nominations, and the talent of the voice actors behind them was recognized at the [BAFTAs]. And now they are essentially part of the D&D canon. …I think it’s too early to talk about the details, and I think there’s a much more important question of how we’re going to approach Baldur’s Gate in the future. But I’d like to think that all of these characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products,» Evans said
Given how connected fans feel to the companions, the community is really worried about what Hasbro might do with them in the future. Evans was asked if he had any concerns about players reacting negatively to their future incarnations.
«Oh, we never doubt that our community is passionate and will be the first to let us know if they don’t like something we’ve done! That’s part of what we love about them. The bar is set very high, and it’s our job to meet and exceed that bar»,” he says.
Evans enthusiastically acknowledges what a miracle Larian has done and how much the D&D game has benefited from it — if there is any tension between the two companies after her departure, as one might assume, there was no evidence of it in the conversation.
«They just did a great job with the product. It’s an amazing celebration of D&D. It’s obvious that this team are incredible fans of D&D itself. And they’ve done a really great job of bringing this world to life, which is being celebrated not only by the loyal fans as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D, but also by a lot of new D&D players, which has made us very happy».
According to Eugene Evans, games in the D&D setting will appear over the next five years and will cover «all genres, all platforms». It is not specified whether he is talking about computer games, but it can be assumed from the general context of the conversation.