Content from Baldur’s Gate 3 was never finished. The reason for this is the war in Ukraine – because of this, a studio had to be completely closed.
That some content in Baldur’s Gate 3 was never completed was suspected by many. However, this had hardly been discussed until now. Now, the head of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, revealed in an interview that some content was indeed cut. The reason: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One of Larian’s developer studios was indirectly involved, and had to be closed suddenly.
What happened? In February 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Larian had a developer studio in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and had to make a quick decision: The studio was closed immediately. Vincke said in the interview with GamesRadar:
I had already thought in advance about what we would do if that ultimately happened. […]
The decision was made immediately: We cannot stay here. […]
We had to relocate people, because the way things were developing, it was already clear that it would end in a mobilization and that would mean: My entire team would have to go to war.
At that point, Baldur’s Gate 3 was essentially in the home stretch of development – after all, the RPG had been available in Early Access for years and had been continuously developed since then.
What did Larian do then? More than 90% of the team from Saint Petersburg was distributed to other studios, which meant that Larian “had to fight with embassies and consulates.”
Although they were able to relocate so much of their team, it still had larger impacts, as Vincke admits:
In a machine as complicated as an RPG, where everything is interconnected, if you suddenly tear out things, the whole thing collapses. Because things that need to be done will no longer get done.
The consequences of this were still felt long afterward: “You could see the aftereffects of that until the end of development.”
Some content was cut that did not make it into the final game. Vincke states that this “always happens” – but it is indeed “very rare for an entire studio to be lost during development.”
What about the cut content? There are a whole series of contents that were considered or even partially created during the development of Baldur’s Gate 3 but did not make it into the final game. Many dialogue lines can still be found in the code – for example, concerning a werewolf companion or a playable part of hell.
Particularly curious was an incident a few weeks before the release when some journalists were shown the city of Baldur’s Gate 3 and were told that they could also explore “the entire upper city” – something that was not the case in the final game, as this part of the city is only accessible for the final battle.
Considering that Larian had to close an entire studio and relocate many developers due to a war, it is understandable that not all content made it into the final game. It is all the more remarkable that Baldur’s Gate 3 became the great game it is, winning so many awards despite these circumstances.
