The Great Baldur's Gate 4 Mystery: Wizards of the Coast Wants More, But Who Dares Follow Larian's Magic?
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Wizards of the Coast wants a successor to the wildly successful *Baldur's Gate 3*, but with Larian moving on, the big question is who can possibly follow that act, as WotC's internal studios seem busy with other D&D projects or genre mismatches.
Right, so Wizards of the Coast, bless their pointy hats, have dropped a bit of a bombshell that feels like a spell gone both wonderfully right and spectacularly wrong all at once. John Hight, the prez over at Wizards, recently declared to The Game Business that “Baldur's Gate [3] is an incredible game, and of course we're going to do a successor.”
Now, if you’ve been living under a rock – or perhaps trapped in a particularly dense dungeon – you’ll know *Baldur’s Gate 3* didn’t just make a splash; it basically opened up a portal to another dimension and dragged the entire gaming world through it. It’s been a barnstorming success, revitalising the D&D brand in ways even a master bard couldn't have sung into existence. So, fair dinkum, Wizards wants more. Who wouldn't? It’d be silly not to, wouldn't it?
But here’s the rub, mate. The magic trick here isn't *if* they'll do one, but *who* in the bloody hell is going to make it. Because the brilliant mad wizards at Larian, the very folks who cooked up *Baldur's Gate 3* and basically rewrote the RPG rulebook, are out. Swen Vincke, Larian's founder, put it plainly at GDC 2024: "It's gonna be up to Wizards of the Coast - it's their IP - to find somebody to take over the torch. We did our job." And what are Larian doing instead? Two new games of their own, neither of which are D&D. Bless 'em for knowing when to gracefully bow out, but now Wizards is left holding the bag of holding, looking for someone to fill very, very large boots.
So, if not Larian, then who? This is where my curiosity really starts tingling like a rogue spellcasting. Wizards' owner, Hasbro, has been pretty vocal about wanting a successor, and it seems WotC has been chucking a fair bit of gold at internal game development. We're talking a cool $1 billion invested across four studios they own. That sounds like a lot of potential magic at their fingertips, right?
First up, there’s a new D&D game in the works from Stig Asmussen – a celebrated developer who gave us *God of War 3* and the *Star Wars Jedi* games. He’s now leading a team for Wizards, and it sounds like they’re making a cinematic third-person action game set in the D&D universe. Asmussen himself noted, "The decision to go with D&D wasn't very difficult, because it plays into the wheelhouse of the things we've done in the past, like God of War, and the Jedi Series." Sounds epic, right? A D&D action game with that kind of pedigree? Count me in! But Hight was clear: "This is not the successor to that game [BG3]." Right, so that's one out of the running for the 'next BG3' title.
Then we’ve got Archetype Studios, led by BioWare alum James Ohlen, who some might remember from his work on *Dragon Age: Origins*. You'd think, 'Perfect! He knows his RPGs!' But no, Archetype is knee-deep in *Exodus*, a sci-fi RPG that looks very much like a spiritual successor to *Mass Effect*. And frankly, I’m rather excited about *Exodus* myself, with its intriguing ideas around time dilation. So, another fantastic studio, but not the one for Baldur's Gate. Atomic Arcade is also out, busy crafting a grown-up take on GI Joe with a *Snake Eyes* game. Good for them, but again, not a fit for Faerûn's grand RPG saga.
This leaves us peering into the bubbling cauldrons of two internal studios: Invoke and Skeleton Key.
Invoke, a Canadian studio, makes no secret of their D&D project. Their website practically shouts it: "We are working on a triple-A game set in the world's most iconic role-playing universe - Dungeons & Dragons." It’s in Unreal Engine 5, aiming for a 200-person team. Sounds promising for a D&D game, for sure. But is it the *Baldur's Gate 3* successor?
I’ve got a couple of potions of skepticism brewing on this one. First, this project was announced way back in October 2022, nearly a year before *Baldur's Gate 3* even fully launched. While BG3 had good Early Access success, nobody – and I mean *nobody*, not even Larian – truly predicted the monumental, reality-bending success it ultimately achieved. Would Wizards really have been confident enough then to greenlight a direct, genre-emulating successor before they saw how BG3 truly landed? I reckon not. BG3 didn't just make a genre trendy; it resurrected it from the grave and taught it to dance.
My second bit of doubt comes from Invoke's leadership and track record. Dominic Guay, who leads Invoke, helped shape *Splinter Cell*, *Far Cry*, and *Watch Dogs* at Ubisoft. Fantastic games, but none of them are isometric, turn-based RPGs of the *Baldur's Gate* variety. What's more, Invoke grew out of Tuque Games, who made the rather... well, 'abysmal' is a strong word, but certainly *underwhelming* D&D: *Dark Alliance* revival. That was a third-person co-operative action RPG. It just doesn't scream 'next Larian' to me, does it?
Then there’s Skeleton Key, which is intriguing because it's where *Dragon Age: Veilguard* director Corinne Busche ended up. Their website talks about making "thought-provoking moments of suspense and horror that guide players to have fun while facing their fears," and previous interviews hinted they’re doing "something spooky." D&D certainly has its darker corners – Ravenloft, for example, with its iconic vampire lord Strahd. I'd love a solid *Curse of Strahd* video game, I truly would. But it doesn't sound much like a direct follow-up to the grand, sprawling narrative of *Baldur's Gate 3*. And again, this project was also announced in 2022.
Now, plans can change, especially when a game the size of *Baldur's Gate 3* blows up the way it did. Maybe these internal projects have been secretly repurposed? Or perhaps Wizards is indeed looking externally again, just as they did with Larian. The original Eurogamer piece mentioned "lots of interest" in this regard, which opens up a whole multiverse of possibilities.
But here’s the real dragon in the room, the fundamental problem with following *Baldur's Gate 3*: it’s an impossibly hard act to follow. Larian didn't just make a game; they poured over a decade of trial, error, lessons learned, and a finely tuned Divinity Engine into it. Their specialisation in systemic gameplay and densely webbed, consequence-laden storytelling is practically unique. Who else could emulate that? Larian owns the code, even if Wizards owns the D&D IP. There aren't many, if any, developers operating at that same level for this specific type of game. Owlcat Games (of *Pathfinder* and *Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader* fame) comes to mind, but they're currently busy with *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn*.
Trying to clone *Baldur's Gate 3* and not hitting its quality or scope would be a critical failure, suffering terribly by comparison. So, what’s a wizard to do? My gut tells me a creatively different approach might be the smarter play. Make a clean break. Shift the perspective to over-the-shoulder, make it more real-time or action-oriented. Evoke the *feeling* of *Baldur's Gate 3*, perhaps bring back some fan-favourite characters, but brand it as a spin-off rather than a direct, numbered successor. Nobody's actually referred to this mystery project as *Baldur's Gate 4*, which is telling. That way, you dodge direct comparisons and give the developers more creative freedom.
This kind of spin-off approach, funnily enough, might make Invoke’s third-person action RPG experience suddenly very relevant indeed. Time will tell, won't it? Can Wizards of the Coast establish a video game-making business that genuinely rivals their tabletop RPG and card game empires? The potential is absolutely there, glittering like a pile of dragon's hoard. But the execution, mate, that's where the real magic happens – or falls flat on its face.
This article was inspired by and drew heavily from Robert Purchese's insightful piece 'As D&D owner Wizards says "of course we want to do a successor" to Baldur's Gate 3, we wonder who will make it and what kind of game it will be' published on Eurogamer.
Tags: BaldursGate3, WizardsOfTheCoast, LarianStudios, RPG, GamingIndustry
Original article: Eurogamer