D&D General Baldur's Gate 3 Sells Over 20 Million Copies

According to Bloomberg, Larion Studios' Baldur's Gate 3 has sold over 20 million copies. CEO Sven Vincke confirmed that 15 million copies were sold in 2024, and another 5 million in 2025.

Larion Studios, a Belgian company with over 500 staff worldwide, announced in March 2025 that the team was 'elated' not to sign up to make a sequel to Baldur's Gate 3 -- “I thought they were going to be angry at me because I just couldn’t muster the energy. I saw so many elated faces, which I didn’t expect, and I could tell they shared the same feelings, so we were all aligned with one another."

The company is now working on a title in its own Divinity series of games. Vincke also brought up the topic of AI, indicating that attempts to incorporate AI into that game were not successful and that there would be no AI in the upcoming Divinity title.

 

[TwoSix]

Maybe. We will never know if that was because of all the other stuff that was good about it. it’s possible to deal with adult themes without scraping the gutter.

But it’s a design choice. Good on them for making a decision and sticking to it. My opinion is one of twenty million and I bought the game anyway. It just would encourage me to buy the game and excepting it being D&D probably would have put me off.

Whether or not any one particular property is enhanced or diminished by sexual material is very often a personal aesthetic judgment. I see plenty of posts on fiction-oriented sites both asking for books with more sexual material, and books with none, quite frequently.

As examples, I don't think the Fourth Wing series would have been nearly as popular if the hardcore sexual material was removed, as the romantasy audience generally prefers that. I think BG3 would probably be roughly comparable if it was "PG-13"-ish instead of R. And I think Zootopia 2 adding a hardcore sex scene would massively diminish its audience.

 

[MGibster]

You can touch on mature subjects without being explicit. Curse of Strahd deals with genocide, domestic abuse, human trafficking, drug abuse, and several other mature themes and its considered one of the best campaigns for 5th edition.

I think there’s some disagreement regarding what kind of themes are appropriate for D&D. Personally, I think some mature content is appropriate for teens. It just depends on how you go about handling it.

 

[Zardnaar]

You can touch on mature subjects without being explicit. Curse of Strahd deals with genocide, domestic abuse, human trafficking, drug abuse, and several other mature themes and its considered one of the best campaigns for 5th edition.

I think there’s some disagreement regarding what kind of themes are appropriate for D&D. Personally, I think some mature content is appropriate for teens. It just depends on how you go about handling it.

Seems to be a pattern.

Generic WotC sanitized corporate slop vs their better efforts.

Tomb of Annihilation generally regarded as the next best one.

 

[Reynard]

You can touch on mature subjects without being explicit. Curse of Strahd deals with genocide, domestic abuse, human trafficking, drug abuse, and several other mature themes and its considered one of the best campaigns for 5th edition.

I think there’s some disagreement regarding what kind of themes are appropriate for D&D. Personally, I think some mature content is appropriate for teens. It just depends on how you go about handling it.

I think there is a significant difference between what sort of "mature elements" work at the table versus in a video game, movie, novel or what have you.

 

[Reef]

I think there is a significant difference between what sort of "mature elements" work at the table versus in a video game, movie, novel or what have you.

Absolutely this. I had no problem with the adult material in BG3. But if a player tried to bring explicit sex scenes at a tabletop (for example), it would quickly be a fade to black moment. Even a comical npc scene, like the bugbear in the barn, would likely be too uncomfortable to bring up at the table.

As for the M vs Teen debate, while I enjoyed the mature content in the game, it came second to enjoying the game itself. More to the point, I can’t imagine there were many people who had no interest in it until they heard there was nudity and suddenly had to have it.

 

[bedir than]

You can touch on mature subjects without being explicit. Curse of Strahd deals with genocide, domestic abuse, human trafficking, drug abuse, and several other mature themes and its considered one of the best campaigns for 5th edition.

I think there’s some disagreement regarding what kind of themes are appropriate for D&D. Personally, I think some mature content is appropriate for teens. It just depends on how you go about handling it.

Witchlight talks about eating pastries made from children

 

[Zardnaar]

Witchlight talks about eating pastries made from children

As well as Strahd?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Witchlight talks about eating pastries made from children

But that’s just for the player snacks.

 

[Reef]

Witchlight talks about eating pastries made from children

Witches have been trying (and succeeding, depending) to eat children in faerie tales for centuries. I don’t think anyone is trying to ban Hansel and Gretel. It’s all about the presentation.

It’s like violence in movies. There’s a huge difference between someone getting stabbed in an action comedy, vs someone getting stabbed in a horror movie. Same action, different presentation.

 

[Parmandur]

That is an assertion without any evidence.

There is no evidence, or even indication, that BG3 would have sold better watered down for teens.

There is plenty of historical evidence that T and PG-13 commercially outperform M/R material, and "watered down" is a subjective take.

I think the game's overall tone added to to its success because it made it unique and weird and interesting, in addition to be a great game with great voice acting and excellent writing. The "puerile" stuff is exactly the sort of things driving the success of The Boys and Peacemaker, neither of which would be nearly as successful if they were just more MCU dross streaming.

That is simply an assertion, and the final element proves the point: The Boys is successful, but not PG-13 Marvel successful. Some things can rise high in spite of being M/R, but as a rule T/PG-23 does better.

As examples, I don't think the Fourth Wing series would have been nearly as popular if the hardcore sexual material was removed, as the romantasy audience generally prefers that. I think BG3 would probably be roughly comparable if it was "PG-13"-ish instead of R. And I think Zootopia 2 adding a hardcore sex scene would massively diminish its audience.

How dare you go against all of our sacred traditions by posting a balanced and reasonable take.