Why won't Baldur's Gate 4 be made, what has Hasbro messed up and what is Larian Studios working on in the Polish branch?

It's been a turbulent week of euphoria mixed with anger. the first show Dragon Dogme 2Really good game, left an unpleasant impression. The bittersweet taste of this debut is now reflected in the hiccups, as confirmed by review aggregation sites and the media. But this was not the only important event. We were so happy that Larian set up a studio in Poland (ha, we were right!), and then Swin Finke brought us down to earth by announcing that he wouldn't be there Baldur's Gate 4 Not even DLC and expansion packs BG3. At least it won't be produced by Larian Studios.

Why did Larian abandon Baldur's Gate?

After Swain's statement, the Internet created a sensation. The context was particularly surprising – it was as if Sony, after the success of the PS2, decided it wouldn't make a PS3. BG3 It turns out to be the game that dominated all the charts, festivals and competitions in 2023, so why announce a big farewell? When money falls from the sky, you don't go home sad, you just scoop it into whatever you have, even Bedronka's net. Of course, we know – and have learned from millions of examples – that Hitting while hot sometimes turns into launching an automated production line that produces subsequent versions, and each subsequent version is worse than the previous one. But big companies think differently. Big companies are thinking about Excel.

So began the usual meltdown among fans, with angry players pointing the finger at the culprits – if you don't know what it is… it has to do with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast (owners of the rights to the game) Forgotten Realms and Dungeons and Dragons I Baldur's Gate). Especially the first one, where the owners of Wizards of the Coast became the villain. Their guilt is indicated not only by their huge portfolio, but also by the wave of layoffs that swept Hasbro in 2023. At that time, 1,900 people were laid off, many of whom were working at WotC Dungeons and Dragons. Swain Finke, expressing his condolences, NoticeThat almost no one he'd planned a game with for years worked at Wizards of the Coast anymore.

Bad Hasbro who doesn't understand games

The pig from BG3 was mistakenly inserted into the paragraph about Hasbro. Source: Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios

The evil company Hasbro, in order to protect its company from the crisis in the toy industry, makes drastic cuts, thus breaking the backbone of Wizards of the Coast. And even the fact that Hasbro is on BG3 He earned $90 million (data from February 2024), and doesn't change anything here. The theory that Hasbro is bad is also supported by a recent speech by Swain, who referred to the wave of layoffs in gaming and publishers' thinking about Excel in a few military words:

Creator Josh Sawyer added extra fuel to the furnace Fallouta: New Vegas I Pillars of eternity, writing On Twitter: “Yes, I don't want to work for Hasbro again either.” Such sounds only confirmed fan speculation – Hasbro must have done something specific; Whether it's these “quarterly earnings” or differences in the approach to monetizing the revived brand Baldur's Gate, it's hard to say. You will say: This is stupid, BG3 It is the goose that lays golden eggs. Yes, but I thought How long did the production process take, and how much time do you have to invest in order to harvest? The potential development of a game for five years, during which losses are made rather than profits, is certainly not the most effective way for Hasbro to generate income – after all, you can do something faster and, wholesale and collectively, make money on the brand in a year or two Just. And that it will just be clipping coupons and exploiting the weaknesses of the masses? so what?

It's hard to say what it was like in reality. However, we do know that Swain – who was concerned about the flood of threads on Reddit – got back into it. Because if you don't know what it is, it's about love.

What is Larian working on in the Polish studio in Warsaw?

When Swain saw what was happening on Reddit, he spoke to the crowd gathered with pitchforks and torches.

If I were to continue with this whole thing, I would point out that Swain is defending Wizards of the Coast, not Hasbro. But let's change our approach for a moment and focus on the beautiful future.

In fact, all of the statements made by Larian and Swen Finke are fairly positive (except for this rant against greedy publishers). So Swain says it's time for a change, and that's when it comes to… Baldur's GateThey've already said it all, they've completely stopped – and any extension of these stories could do more harm than good. He speaks positively because he thinks about the future, and the future for Larian Studios will be good and optimistic as long as they do what they really want to do – What they like, what they feel, what they understand and what they want. They will do it independently.

Swen Vincke doesn't fit into the modern gaming industry. It would have been appropriate 20 or 30 years ago, when Molyneux clashed with companies to push his vision. Swain is the man who reminds us what games actually are and should bewhich shows that they can be created without the philosophy of EA or Ubisoft, where imagination and creativity are severely restricted by text tables, because money, because profits and Excel columns must match.

That's right, they have to agree. But Swain and Larian show that this can be achieved without losing its own identity and without necessarily turning into a disgusting corporate giant that tramples its business and mocks its history.

It remains to answer what Larian Studios will do next and what it is working on, among other things, at the Polish branch in Warsaw? Well, it's probably the simplest answer Divinity: Original Sin 3. The brand that promoted this team around the world as modern RPG talent is the one that granted them the license Baldur's GateWhich they haven't touched for many years. I think it's time to return to this world and develop it. What is left for the fans? Dungeons and Dragons? We hope Hasbro has never heard of Konami and doesn't turn Astarion, Karlach, and Shadowheart into heroes that make us laugh from the trillions of flashing colored lights of pachinko machines.

(And by the way, if you want to get to know Larian Studios a little better, read up on the history. Hubert Sosnowski did an article about Divine Divinity – a game without which there would be no Larian today.)