Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke stated there was “not a lot” to choose from outside Baldur’s Gate 3 when selecting a license to shape the company’s future, claiming he would have gone for the Fallout or Ultima license next of their deal with WotC fell through.
Baldur’s Gate 3, a passion project for Larian Studios, took six years to craft before earning the title Game of the Year in 2023. And, while they were able to secure the rights to make a Baldur’s Gate game all the way back in 2017, Wizards of the Coast almost broke off the deal.
In an interview with Edge Magazine’s Jeremy Peel, Vincke revealed that their next project could have easily been a Fallout title if they couldn’t hold on to the licensing for a Dungeons & Dragons-style game.
They also considered pursuing the Ultima license to build on one of gaming’s most iconic MMO series with a single-player title.
“It would have been Ultima, it would have been Fallout, it would have been Baldur’s Gate,” said Vincke. “There was not a lot to choose from.”
This quote referred to the potential for Larian to reach the next level. Vincke believed they could achieve this goal, but acknowledged that it would need to secure a deal with a AAA-level franchise to break their “glass ceiling” as a game studio.
Vincke recounted how the team locked themselves in a hotel meeting room for an entire weekend to put together a design doc that’d convince WotC that it was worth keeping Larian on the project.
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Larian’s attempt to put together an intricate design doc last-minute didn’t exactly work out well.
“We didn’t have the brainpower to deal with it, because we were trying to do [Divinity: Original Sin 2]. Wizards then sent it back with the corporate equivalent of, ‘This is really sh*t’. And then we said, ‘We know, but we’re releasing a game – don’t ask us to make this now. Give us an extension.’ Luckily they understood, and so we got a second chance,” Vincke explained in the interview with Edge.
This second chance would be where Larian knocked it out of the park, securing the license and getting started with Baldur’s Gate 3. Their studio quickly grew over the course of development, ultimately bringing us what is almost universally considered 2023’s Game of the Year.
Not much is known about Larian’s next project, except that they won’t be making a DLC or follow-up to Baldur’s Gate 3. Their next game will be something completely different.
And with six years in between game releases, it’s likely another year or two before they are comfortable sharing more about their upcoming projects.
