Baldur’s Gate 3 is a “mega hit” that Hasbro expects to pay dividends for years
Didn’t they just absolutely gut Larian staff?
Larian is independent. They’re not owned by Hasbro. I think Hasbro has done some serious layoffs lately, but I haven’t seen anything about layoffs at Larian.
Larian Studios, the developer of Baldur’s Gate 3, has been “affected” by layoffs at Wizards of the Coast, the company that manages the Dungeons and Dragons brand. The CEO of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, revealed that almost all the people who were in the original meeting when Baldur’s Gate 3 was approved are no longer working at Wizards of the Coast after the recent layoffs[1][4]. This includes several prominent names from the D&D team, such as Mike Mearls and Breeanna Heiss[1]. The layoffs at Wizards of the Coast were part of a larger trend in the gaming industry, with several other companies also having laid off employees in the same year[1][5]. The impact of these layoffs on the future of Baldur’s Gate 3 and other projects is not yet clear.
Citations: [1] Baldur’s Gate 3 Studio CEO Comments on Hasbro Layoffs https://gamerant.com/baldurs-gate-3-hasbro-layoffs-dungeons-and-dragons/ [2] CEO of Baldur’s Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team … - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/18j5qjc/theres_almost_nobody_left_ceo_of_baldurs_gate_3/ [3] Baldur’s Gate 3 dev speaks out on Hasbro’s shocking DnD layoffs https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/layoffs-comment [4] Larian CEO acknowledges Wizards of the Coasts layoffs in belated The Game Awards speech https://www.eurogamer.net/larian-ceo-acknowledges-wizards-of-the-coasts-layoffs-in-belated-the-game-awards-speech [5] Baldur’s Gate 3 Lead Says “There’s Almost Nobody Left” On D&D Team From First Meetings https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-lead-dd-team-first-meetings-laid-off/
He literally meant they were fired from WOTC. He was talking about the team at WOTC they were working with; nobody at Larian was fired.
Read the articles and not just the headlines.
Wish I could get into this game, but I’m so done with turn based fighting. I can’t take another game with that mechanic
Its on my list, and I’ve played Solasta (loved it, but they level higher than BG3 does).
However, I think Pathfinder games do better Legendary adventures. The characters attain godlike strength in the end whereas D&D 5ed is not very good at that so far in the Video game space.
What ever happened to games like NeverWinter Nights where you could literally do a raid on the hells themselves or Neverwinter Nights 2 where you can make an attack on the God of the Dead’s Domain.
Developers complain about how hard it its to do spells and powers past a certain level and yet their predecessors still found a way to do it even if they had to make certain limitations on them.
Still, I am glad to see BG3 a thing even if the characters are weak compared to the original ones from BG2.
We need more Eye of the Beholder and classic Bard’s Tale and classic Wizardry, and less fucking Baldur’s Goddamn JRPG Story-Heavy Bullshit Gate. Story-heavy shit has basically killed gaming. Go watch TV for your fucking story, kids, and leave games alone.
“Boo hoo games have changed it’s all different now story is good blah blah”. Bullshit. Do you want to play chess and every other move have to stop and be forced to watch a part of some fucking medieval war movie? No? THEN WHY DO YOU WANT THIS IN VIDEOGAMES?
Okay okay. So let me get this straight. Story bad. You realise story has been a centre point of gaming for a long long long time.
Second. As someone who has played games for 25+, there’s plenty of games out there if you just want constant combat. Doom for example. Halo. Overwatch. Apex. Dark souls.
Even combat heavy games have stories though. Overwatch has background lore and in game story now.
Doom gotta save everyone from bad alien dudes.
Halo. Stop the covenant using the rings.
Dark souls… Well dark souls is so lore heavy it’s hard to keep up with the story.
So if you don’t like story in games. Well maybe stick to space invaders and leave the good games to people who actually appreciate good games.
You know the story isn’t between moves in combat (with rare exceptions)?
A lot of video game writing is bad, but computers allow storytelling that isn’t possible through other mediums. BG3 is choose your own adventure but actually good.
Also: read books for your stories. 😉👍
I don’t think they understand.
What made Baldurs Gate 3 great wasn’t DnD it was Larian. Same for BG 1/2 and old BioWare.
You can’t just create that level of care by pumping out lots of games, they’ll probably fill them with MTX or GaaS bullshit to try and get more money from it as well.
You can absolutely license a crap load of games and be successful with it. Games Workshop does that with 40k. They haven’t had much that’s as huge as BG3, but the generally are reasonable games. Some are garbage mobile games, but a lot aren’t that as well.
I doubt Hasbro/WotC can actually handle licensing out IP as successfully as GW, but it’s totally possible to do.
The suits don’t understand anything. They see game making money and they’re like “more games equals more money”
The shovelware tsunami is imminent
