Will there be a Baldur’s Gate 4? Devs break silence

Baldur’s Gate 3’s incredible popularity makes it a perfect candidate for a sequel, but will it get one? Devs have finally answered whether or not there we’ll see a Baldur’s Gate 4 from Larian.

When your game breaks Steam records for player counts and wins Game of the Year, usually you start thinking about a sequel. Baldur’s Gate 3 did both of those things but it looks like Larian is taking a different route.

Reports from IGN’s coverage of the 2024 Game Developer’s Conference, Baldur’s Gate 3 Director Swen Vincke dashed hopes of a sequel from Larian. At the same time, he confirmed there would not be any DLC or expansions either.

Vincke briefly explained the studio’s reasoning for not capitalizing on the game’s success and furthering the franchise. Larian will of course continue developing other titles.

Why won’t Larian be developing Baldur’s Gate 4?

Vincke, and by extension Larian, is leaving the Dungeons & Dragons IP behind. “We’re not going to make Baldur’s Gate 4…we’re going to move on,” he said.

Vincke explained that he was eager to try “something new” and is hard at work on a new project. Being in its early stages, he’s keeping a pretty tight lid on things but it won’t be related to D&D in any way.

However, Vincke did confirm on a Stream thread that Larian is currently working on two original IPs. Although what these games may be about is still a mystery for the time being.

“We’ve decided to seize this opportunity to develop our own IPs. We’re currently working on two new projects and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future has in store,” said Vincke.

Despite this all feeling a bit heartbreaking, Vincke did remind the audience that Baldur’s Gate is actually the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast. He clarified that they would be free to continue the franchise with another developer.

Furthermore, Baldur’s Gate 3 narrative director Adam Smith recently weighed in on whether or not fans can expect to see Baldur’s Gate 4, with Smith revealing to Games Radar how Larian did try to pitch to the team a fourth game but that the ideas they presented “didn’t excite” any of the devs who worked on BG3.

Smith later added, “For us, we didn’t have anything unfinished that we wanted to say, we wanted to move on to other worlds…we tried, we did start pushing around ideas for Baldur’s Gate 4, and they didn’t excite us, we didn’t have the fire. It feels like it should have been a harder decision than it was, but it wasn’t.”