D&D General Official D&D In Decline. Source Hasbro.

[Zardnaar]

It used to be done this way a lot. Look at the release dates of all the Ultima games, for example. The longest stretch was 3 years and most were out a year after the previous installment.

Development costs have exploded since then. Things go wrong and yeah longer times.

 

[Oofta]

I bet Larian could make a Baldurs Gate 4 in 2-3 years if they used the BG3 engine with only minor changes. They have the technical side down, they've got a gameplay formula that works, so it's mainly a matter of cranking out content, and that can largely be done in paralell by multiple teams at once.

I don't disagree, but they're about the only ones that could. The question of course is are they going to do that or are they going to do an expansion pack that goes to higher levels. Also kind of depends on their setup, they're still releasing patches.

 

[Reynard]

Development costs have exploded since then.

Sure, but then there always seems to be some indie game that is made by a small team with a limited budget that absolutely puts AAA games to shame. What are most AAA studios doing wrong, one wonders.

 

[Reynard]

I don't disagree, but they're about the only ones that could. The question of course is are they going to do that or are they going to do an expansion pack that goes to higher levels. Also kind of depends on their setup, they're still releasing patches.

My gut says the latter so they can get back to their own IP sooner rather than later.

 

[Zardnaar]

Sure, but then there always seems to be some indie game that is made by a small team with a limited budget that absolutely puts AAA games to shame. What are most AAA studios doing wrong, one wonders.

Most they jumped in live action. So fame quality has suffered due to microtransactions/lootboxes.

To really make a lot of money via micro transactions you still need a good game. Eg GTA Online.

At one point that game was making 3 million a day or more iirc. Spun off from a 10 year old 200 million game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sure, but then there always seems to be some indie game that is made by a small team with a limited budget that absolutely puts AAA games to shame. What are most AAA studios doing wrong, one wonders.

$100 games with day-1 patches and DLC, dwindling single player campaigns, monetization, mistreating their creative staff, the hits keep coming.

 

[Mecheon]

So yearly or bi yearly releases and a game can be done in 3 years but you use multiple studios and develop more than one game at a time.

The only game series I know that does the "One big franchise setter a year" is Pokemon, and they're stopping that due to the massive criticism on all of their recent games since the DS era. Seriously, when people are saying to ignore the recent games but go for the out of production one released over 10 years ago, that ain't a good thing

If you want increasingly bad games, shovelling out one a year is a surefire way to it. Not to mention the gaming industry's many, many problems with burning through staff at the moment. Throwing more studios at the problem isn't going to guarantee you good games anyway, throwing more studios at it is just as like to give you more Dungeons and Dragons Dark Alliance-esque go-pro nonsense than a good game. And let me just remind you, that was the most recent D&D game before BG3 blew past everyone's expectations

Making a good video game takes time, and there are a lot more bad D&D video games than there are good

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I don't disagree, but they're about the only ones that could. The question of course is are they going to do that or are they going to do an expansion pack that goes to higher levels. Also kind of depends on their setup, they're still releasing patches.

I could see them doing both. One team works on a BG3 DLC while others start producing BG4. Or they could do neither and instead make Divinity 3.

It's also possible Larian could license out the BG3 engine, like how Black Isle made the Icewind Dales and Planescape: Torment using the engine Bioware made for Baldur's Gate.

Either way I hope we get more games using the BG3 engine. It's cool to see a video game engine that re-creates D&D so well, it would be a waste if it was only ever used for a single game.

 

[Zardnaar]

I could see them doing both. One team works on a BG3 DLC while others start producing BG4. Or they could do neither and instead make Divinity 3.

It's also possible Larian could license out the BG3 engine, like how Black Isle made the Icewind Dales and Planescape: Torment using the engine Bioware made for Baldur's Gate.

Either way I hope we get more games using the BG3 engine. It's cool to see a video game engine that re-creates D&D so well, it would be a waste if it was only ever used for a single game.

Idk if I woukd call the engine good. The frustrating parts of BG for me are inventory and trying to navigate some naps/targeting (on ps5).

Yay I shot the ground/jumped to my death, can't move/can't jump to XYZ again.

Think they also said they limited the game to 12 partly because of the engine.

 

[CleverNickName]

Idk if I woukd call the engine good. The frustrating parts of BG for me are inventory and trying to navigate some naps/targeting (on ps5).

Yay I shot the ground/jumped to my death, can't move/can't jump to XYZ again.

Think they also said they limited the game to 12 partly because of the engine.

Yeah, the targeting and navigating in BG3 is the worst. It took me a long time to be able to look past it and enjoy the game. And even with almost a hundred hours in the game, I still get mad and turn it off in frustration when the targeting snaps to a rock or NPC instead of the monster I was trying to click on.

It's an amazing game, but targeting needs a lot of work.