Wizards of the Coast "now talking to lots of partners" about next Baldur's Gate
"We certainly hope it's not another 25 years."
Larian Studios didn't so much smash last year's Baldur's Gate 3 out of the park as launch it straight into orbit, collecting countless Game of the Year awards and even a few BAFTAs along the way. But while the studio has made it clear it has no interest in returning for a Baldur's Gate 4, Dungeons and Dragons owner Wizard of the Coast is definitely onboard for more, and is currently "talking to lots of partners" about the future of the series.
That's according to Eugene Evans, senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing for Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro, who spoke with PC Gamer following Baldur's Gate 3's recent BAFTA wins. Evans confirmed the company is keen to continue the series, and has started having conversations to that effect, although it sounds like it'll be some time before anything specific is revealed. "We're now talking to lots of partners," Evans explains, "and being approached by a lot of partners who are embracing the challenge of, what does the future of the Baldur's Gate franchise look like?"
"So we certainly hope that it's not another 25 years, as it was from Baldur's Gate 2 to 3, before we answer that," Evan continued. "But we're going to take our time and find the right partner, the right approach, and the right product that could represent the future of Baldur's Gate."
"We take that very, very seriously, as we do with all of our decisions around our portfolio. We don't rush into decisions as to who to partner with on products or what products we should be considering." As Evans noted later, "The bar has been set very high, and it's our job to reach and surpass that bar."
And while it's "too early" to start talking specifics, when asked if we might ever see some of Baldur's Gate 3's beloved characters return, Evans suggested it's certainly a possibility. "They are now essentially part of D&D canon," he explained. "I would like to think that all of those characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products."
As for Larian, it confirmed it was hanging up its D&D hat during a GDC talk back in March. "Baldur's Gate will always have a warm spot in our heart," Larian's founder and CEO Swen Vincke told attendees. "We'll forever be proud of it, but we're not gonna continue in it. We're not gonna make new expansions, which everybody is expecting us to do. We're not gonna make Baldur's Gate 4, which everyone is expecting us to do. We're gonna move on - we're gonna move away from D&D and start making a new thing."
And as for what that new thing might be, Vincke later told Eurogamer it's something "big and ambitious", and "new in the sense that it is different from the things that we've done before."