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At a Game Developers Conference (GDC) panel today, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke dropped something of a bombshell by revealing that the developer is not planning to release any expansions or DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3, nor Baldur’s Gate 4.
Instead, Vincke said on the panel, Larian plans to move away from Dungeons & Dragons entirely and do something new, leaving the intellectual property in the hands of publisher Wizards of the Coast.
It’s a big surprise, considering the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3, and many fans assume that a DLC or expansion would be on the way. Larian has released several major free patches that have added, among other things, a playable epilogue.
Larian has also commented on the possibility of DLC in the past. Speaking to IGN at gamescom 2023, Larian Studios senior product manager Tom Butler said they had “discussions” about doing more for Baldur’s Gate 3, although they were focused on patches at the time.
“We’ll keep patching for a while and then we’ll all take a vacation and then decide what we’re going to do next,” Butler said at the time. “But at the moment we are really in talks. We want to do more. We don’t know what yet.”
Beyond that, however, Larian has never officially said that more Baldur’s Gate 3 was on the way. However, as mentioned above, a lot of new content has been added to the hit RPG since its release in August last year, and there’s already so much in the massive game that the physical edition comes on four discs. The developers are currently working on a “robust, cross-platform” mod support plan to also accommodate community additions.
The first and second Baldur’s Gate games were developed by BioWare. Before Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian was best known for developing the Divinity series.
It seems like Larian’s next project could be another entrance of Divinity. In an interview with IGN shortly before the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, Vincke said that a sequel to Divinity: Original Sin was “definitely” on the horizon, but that the team needed to work on Baldur’s Gate 3 first.
It’s unclear if Hasbro, owner of Wizards of the Coast, will look for another developer for a potential Baldur’s Gate 4, but the property has certainly been a big success for them. Last month it was revealed that Hasbro had made a whopping $90 million with Baldur’s Gate 3. In addition to the financial success, Baldur’s Gate 3 has also been a huge hit with fans and critics, winning first prize at the Game Awards from last year and earning a 10/10 from various outlets, including IGN.
Elsewhere in the panel, Vincke also showed early versions of several characters, including a very different Astarion.
Alex Stedman is a senior news editor at IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.