While Baldur’s Gate 3 has been incredibly successful for Larian, the studio has opted not to make any more paid post-launch content for the game in the form of DLC or expansions. In an interview with GameSpot, studio CEO Swen Vincke explained that Larian decided to take on projects unrelated to Baldur’s Gate 3 because making DLC for the popular RPG was the “boring” option for the studio.
Vincke spoke about how he doesn’t believe that Larian as a studio was made to create DLCs or expansions for its game. Rather, he believes that the studio is too ambitious to focus on smaller content releases. Larian would instead prefer to move on to its next projects when it is done with its previous one.
“We are not a company that’s made to create DLCs, expansions,” he explained. “We tried that actually, a few times. We failed every time – it’s not our thing. Life is too short. Our ambitions are very large.”
Responding to a question about how about how DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3 could have done well for the studio in terms of financial gains, Vincke said that he found the prospect boring. He instead wants to focus on the happiness of the developers at Larian, who would prefer to work on a new, more ambitious project.
“It’s boring, is really the honest answer,” said Vincke. “We tried to be in the DLC business, talked about that with BG3… there’s just no passion… I mean happy player, happy business, but you also need a happy developer for a happy player. What we’re doing now makes developers way more happy.”
“We heard it’s what we were supposed to do, right? You’ve got a huge game, a huge hit, and you’ve gotta make DLC this and DLC that and DLC there… and money’s gonna pile up all high! And we just nodded and said, ‘Yeah we’ll make DLCs’. And then the moment that we had some time to think, we realised, ‘What are you doing?’. Progressive insight is not a bad thing, so sometimes you go down the wrong path and then say, ‘Oh fuck it’, and just change course.”
In the same interview, Vincke had also spoken about how the studio is currently “deep in the trenches” in developing its new projects. He also referred to the new project as “crazy ambitious,” noting that there is also extra challenge involved now that the studio is working on two games at the same time.
“We’re deep in the trenches on working on our next big thing,” said Vincke when asked about where the studio was in terms of its next project. “It’s shaping up quite well actually, but it’s crazy ambitious. I mean there’s so much new things that we can do these days, so yeah. It’s complex. On top of that, we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to be making two games.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more details.
