Baldur’s Gate 3 was the role-playing hit of 2023. It’s no wonder that developer Larian thought about possible expansions. However, the work on a DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3, which had already begun, was halted.
Fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 have had to be strong in recent days. Because Larian CEO Swen Vincke announced at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that there will be no expansion or sequel to the role-playing hit – at least not from Larian itself.
Even though many fans were disappointed by this news, it was “the right decision for Larian,” Vincke explained. But that was not clear from the beginning. In an interview with IGN, he revealed that a DLC was already in progress.
A DLC was simply obvious
With such a popular game as Baldur’s Gate 3, it is clear that the call for more content quickly becomes loud. Thus, Larian indeed began working on a DLC. However, that is not always the right path.
Swen Vincke says:
Given all the success, it would have been the most obvious thing to make a DLC. We even started thinking about Baldur’s Gate 4. But we hadn’t really finished BG3 yet, and jumping straight to something else felt wrong.
So even though the DLC was already in progress, Vincke decided to change his mind. After a break over the Christmas holidays, his decision was final.
I came back and told the team: “You know what, we’re not doing it after all. Let’s rethink our plans and start with all the things we had planned before we started BG3.”
This had also been the original plan: to complete Baldur’s Gate 3 and then focus on other projects.
Specifically, Larian already has two games in mind for that, as well as numerous other concepts.
It didn’t really come from the heart
But how did the team react to this final decision? Initially, Vincke was worried that his colleagues might be angry with him, as he reveals. To his surprise, he was mostly met with relief.
You could see that the team was doing it [worked on the DLC] because everyone felt we had to. But it didn’t really come from the heart, and we are simply a studio from the heart. That has been our downfall, but it is also the reason for our success.
Working on a DLC or even Baldur’s Gate 4 would have been more of a routine without much conviction, he explains further. Therefore, the team is now happy to work on other ideas. Even if it is of course a pity for fans of Baldur’s Gate 3, we are looking forward to more titles from Larian and are curious about what will come next.
Unlike Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon’s Dogma 2 already introduced paid additional content at release. This led to an angry outcry in the community. However, many of the contents can also be unlocked without microtransactions:
Play Dragon’s Dogma 2 without microtransactions: Here’s how to get almost all DLC content for free
