D&D General Hasbro Is Looking For Partners For Baldur's Gate 4

Last month, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larion Studios revealed that it was 'elated' not to be working on further D&D video games, expansions, or DLC.

However, Wizard of the Coast's Eugene Evans says that a sequel is still "very much on the cards". Evans is Senior vice president of Digital Strategy and Licensing for Hasbro and WotC, and was talking in an interview with PC Gamer.

“We’re now talking to lots of partners 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. 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.”

Fans of the characters, such as Shadowheart and Astarian, created by Larion and introduced in BG3 will be pleased to know that they are now owned by WotC, meaning that it's not impossible that they would show up in any sequels. Evans said "Larian created a much loved cast of characters, who were even celebrated by their nominations, the voice actors behind them and the talent behind them was celebrated at the [BAFTAS]...And they are now essentially part of D&D canon."

 

[ECMO3]

Those videos games are the reason why those places are important legacy elements of FR. Baldur’s Gate was just another dot on the fictional map until a major video game was set there.

I think the Drizzt novels have more to do with Icewind Dale's name recognition than the video games do.

Additionally, there are a ton of very important legacy Realms locations that didn’t have hit video games named after them and which now have very little name-recognition outside of existing FR fans: Shadowdale, Anauroch, Athkatla, Thay, etc. There’s a reason WotC keeps choosing to name drop a choice handful of place names: nostalgia $$$

Amn (and Athkatla) was part of the BG franchise and named specifically in Shadows of Amn. But they have not really developed that at all with adventures. I really wish they had!

 

[Scribe]

I think this is the times and technology. BG1 was pretty darn awesome and polished when it came out and the Infinity Engine it ran on was brand new in 1998. It is less polished now because it is 27 years later and computer games and graphics have come a long way.

Insane to me it's been that long.

 

[Azzy]

Insane to me it's been that long.

We're old.

 

[MNblockhead]

We're old.

Nothing like a video game to make me feel that way. I remember playing Zork on my family's TSR 80 and my friends and I learning to create our own games for Apple II.

Hell, forget that. I remember the first video game I ever played was Home Pong at my next door neighbor's house.

It feels like my grandfather talking about remembering horse drawn wagons/carriages. It is pretty crazy how much tech has advanced generation to generation.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think this is generally true, but the amount of content in BG3 is overwhelming. If a DLC is going to have that many places, that many plot paths/turns, that many voice lines consistent with what Larian produced then it will be very difficult.

One game I played was around double or triple BG in size.

Smaller than Fallout 4 as well.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think the Drizzt novels have more to do with Icewind Dale's name recognition than the video games do.

This was probably true... once.

Now, I would think the video gamers outnumber the book readers ten-to-one...

 

[ValamirCleaver]

The original Descent game was made by Parallax Software. There's also a very cool movie called The Descent.

It was also a series of dungeon-crawling board games published by Fantasy Flight Games.

BoardGameGeek | Gaming Unplugged Since 2000

boardgamegeek.com

I think the Drizzt novels have more to do with Icewind Dale's name recognition than the video games do.

Maybe previous to 2000.

Amn (and Athkatla) was part of the BG franchise and named specifically in Shadows of Amn.

The name of that game was specifically Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. I never recall the game being referred to as Shadows of Amn without the Baldur's Gate II or BG2 part though I often heard it called one of those without the Shadows of Amn part.

 

[MNblockhead]

This was probably true... once.

Now, I would think the video gamers outnumber the book readers ten-to-one...

If only 10 to 1, I would be very happily surprised.

 

[CapnZapp]

It was also a series of dungeon-crawling board games published by Fantasy Flight Games.

And it's novels and magazines and music and sci-fi television episodes and... hold on, lemme just link to the complete Wikipedia disambiguation page...

Descent - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[CapnZapp]

I hate flashy martial attacks soo much

I prefer my martial attacks fleshy