Baldur's Gate 3 has been captivating players for over a year and a half, with many of us still diving into our second, third, seventh, or even tenth playthroughs. However, with developer Larian Studios stepping away from the series, the future of Baldur's Gate now rests in the hands of Hasbro. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait too long to learn about the franchise's next steps.
During the Game Developers Conference, Dan Ayoub, Hasbro's SVP of digital games, spoke with IGN about the future of Baldur's Gate. He revealed that, with Larian moving on, there is significant interest from various parties in taking on the series. "We're kind of working out our plans for the future and what we're going to be doing with that. And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that," Ayoub stated.
While Ayoub didn't specify whether this "stuff" would be a new Baldur's Gate game or perhaps a crossover similar to the one with Magic: The Gathering, he did express his desire for a Baldur's Gate 4, acknowledging that it would be a significant undertaking. "It's somewhat of an unenviable position," he admitted. "I mean, we're not in a hurry. Right? That's the thing, we're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it. We're starting to think about, okay, yeah, we're ready to start dipping toes a little bit and talking about a few things. And I think, in really short order, like I said, again, not to over-tease that point, we're going to have some other things to talk about around that."
Ayoub also highlighted the immense pressure to ensure the next Baldur's Gate lives up to expectations, a pressure that extends to other Dungeons & Dragons-related projects, such as the game Hasbro announced last year. "I'm never one to shy down from a challenge," he said. "And I think anything that forces us to raise our creative bar, and developers love to have a high bar to go after, and I think we've actually seen the team push some really interesting ideas that they're like, 'Okay, we need to raise our bar. We need to go bigger on this.' And things like that. So, I think that's our hope, right? We would keep raising the bar and everyone just tries to go a little higher."
In addition to discussing Baldur's Gate, Ayoub touched on other topics such as Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro's partnership with Saber Interactive, and the company's overall game strategy. Look out for our full interview with him next week.
Every IGN 10 of 2023
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