Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Justisaur Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: [Polygon] Larian Studios wont make any more Baldurs Gate games Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2024 09:14:43 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 56 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2024 16:14:44 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="39409e213d19a12ad0c8f636e4a0ab76"; logging-data="3925090"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+EQRcZ3iKBHck5xjiElvpJIM/8FJKHbG4=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:SIn7qHIfr+eAPvcqLGftqSmMjTY= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 3508 On 3/23/2024 6:54 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote: > On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 18:26:28 +0100, kyonshi wrote: > >> On 3/22/2024 3:37 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote: >>> On 3/22/2024 2:40 AM, kyonshi wrote: >>>> Source: >>>> https://www.polygon.com/24107939/baldurs-gate-3-larian-studios-no-more-dnd-wizards-of-the-coast >>>> >>> I was thinking nice things about Larian reading this.  Finally a company >>> that wants to put out good, _new_ games, not just endlessly milk a cash >>> cow.  Until this last paragraph.... >>> >>>> >>>> However, Wizards of the Coast was hit with layoffs right before >>>> Christmas 2023, massively impacting the D&D and Magic teams. This >>>> includes the team that helped with Baldur’s Gate 3, according to Vincke. >>> >>> That made me think this was more corporate spin as the execs were >>> thinking "Well, shit, there goes our cash cow franchise...." >>> >> >> Maybe WotC thinks they don't need that team anymore and that they can >> replace them by AI. Seems to be their favorite idea lately. > > Larian has actually issued a statement saying that the reason for the > departure is most definitively not bad blood between Larian and WOTC* > and, honestly, I can see that. In fact, I seem to recall the > developers saying - prior to the game's release - that there were no > real plans for them turning their game into a franchise anyway; that > for Larian "Baldur's Gate 3" was intended to be a one-and-done game. > The company has never been averse to going off and doing their own > thing, and has always professed to prefer to be in charge of their own > destiny rather than beholden to an IP licensor or publisher. > > So this departure, rather than indicative of some breakdown in > relations between WOTC, seems perfectly in tune with Larian. I'm not > reading any more into it except that Larian likes to make their own > games, and while BG3 was a profitable side-hustle, it was never > intended to be their 'main gig'. > I'm betting on a cash grab hack job by another publisher for BG4. Either that or Hazardbros throws enough money at Larian to tempt them into it, but that seems a very remote chance seeing all their crap decisions of late. -- -Justisaur ø-ø (\_/)\ `-'\ `--.___, ¶¬'\( ,_.-' \\ ^'