D&D General WotC: 'Of Course We're Going To Do' Baldur's Gate 4

In an interview with The Game Business, Wizards of the Coast's president John Hight touched on the company's video games plans for Dungeons & Dragons.

Hight told interviewer Christopher Dring “Baldur’s Gate is an incredible game. And of course, we're going to do a successor."

Larian Studios, which made Baldur's Gate 3, has previously indicated that is not going to be involved in any potential sequels.

However, the previously announced game that game studio Giant Skull is currently working on is not Baldur's Gate 4. Hight says "This is not the successor to [Baldur's Gate 3]. We go to Stig and his team to tell an incredible story and bring D&D to a very broad audience. Ideally, the game will appeal to D&D players because it will help them realise their imagination. But it’s also going to hopefully appeal to people that love playing action games, that love the Jedi games, that love God of War games." Giant Skull's game will be a single-player action-adventure game.

Giant Skull's Stig Asmussen spoke a little about that--as yet untitled--game: "A lot of us have grown up on Dungeons & Dragons. And for me, with a new company, this is something that we’re good at. We're good at working with partners. We're good at capturing the spirit of those worlds. It wasn't something that we could just walk away from. It was actually a pretty easy [decision]... Dungeons & Dragons is the definition of a playground. When we had the meeting in Renton [Washington], my mind opened up to the possibilities of what we could do. There’s still a lot of things that we have to abide by. There’s the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons. There are the worlds, player agency and choice, building a party, actions have consequences… those types of things."

Giant Skull was founded by Stig Asmussen in 2023. Asmussen previously was the game director of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as God of War 3.

 

[Distracted DM]

I see a lot of folk talking about what outside studio could be tapped to make BG4... but it's quite possible that WotC will do what they've done previously and acquire/form a game studio for the project. I hope this isn't the case, because that's how we got DnD: Dark Alliance, but they've already tried it before.. they might try it again.

 

[Scribe]

Didn't Baldur's Gate 2 start out with my character tortured and imprisoned, my beloved pal Khalid murdered, and my sister gets taken by the magic police for casting spells? The first BG was all about the child of a murder god running around trying to kill all his siblings so he could have the ultimate murder god powers.

While true, I remember early versions of BG3, every character was abrasive at best.

That doesn't describe BG1 or 2 at all.

Dark, grim dark, is never, was never, the problem. BG3 remains plenty dark.

 

[Parmandur]

WotC didn't make Beyond. They bought it. And games in development count for absolutely nothing.

Arena is their one and only big success, set against a backdrop of failure after failure after failure.

But they also hired the people who did make it.

And the new video game studios they are building, who are now the majority of WotC staff, have hired people who can make software. It's not 1999 or 2008 over there anymore.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I see a lot of folk talking about what outside studio could be tapped to make BG4... but it's quite possible that WotC will do what they've done previously and acquire/form a game studio for the project. I hope this isn't the case, because that's how we got DnD: Dark Alliance, but they've already tried it before.. they might try it again.

Most of us prefer discussing possibilities that are more optimistic while still being in the realm of realistic, but sadly this does remain the most likely scenario at the moment.

 

[AlViking]

Actually, Larian really screwed up the tone, but the players revolted. BG3 was so successful is solely down to the fans. What Larian was aiming at was a grey, bleak game in line regards to tone with some earlier games they put out. It did not have a Baldurs Gate feel at all.

I know I'm probably an outlier here but while I enjoyed BG 3, I don't feel any particular draw to play it again. I don't care for the whole "edgy evil is dramatic, good is boring" tone that seems to underly pretty much every character.

 

[JConstantine]

I know I'm probably an outlier here but while I enjoyed BG 3, I don't feel any particular draw to play it again. I don't care for the whole "edgy evil is dramatic, good is boring" tone that seems to underly pretty much every character.

I think the "edgy evil is dramatic, good is boring" tone, as you put, is fine - appropriate even - for the Baldur's Gate series. I've always had the impression of the city being rather noir-esque in it's level of corruption and inability to improve. Contrast to Neverwinter where I generally get a prevailing sense of hope.

As far as the videos games go, while the current connection between installments in each series is simply the location, I could see each series being used to tell certain types of story to give them a thematic through line. For example, Baldur's Gate could focus on dark and edgy themes; Neverwinter Nights for the standard heroic plots; Planescape for presenting (a student understanding of) philosophical questions. Maybe pivot Icewind Dale towards survivalism.

 

[AlViking]

I think the "edgy evil is dramatic, good is boring" tone, as you put, is fine - appropriate even - for the Baldur's Gate series. I've always had the impression of the city being rather noir-esque in it's level of corruption and inability to improve. Contrast to Neverwinter where I generally get a prevailing sense of hope.

As far as the videos games go, while the current connection between installments in each series is simply the location, I could see each series being used to tell certain types of story to give them a thematic through line. For example, Baldur's Gate could focus on dark and edgy themes; Neverwinter Nights for the standard heroic plots; Planescape for presenting (a student understanding of) philosophical questions. Maybe pivot Icewind Dale towards survivalism.

If I paid for HBO I wouldn't want to watch The Sopranos either. It's just a question of preference. I don't want to be buddies with someone who tries to suck my blood while I sleep, a slaver who would be more than happy to subjugate me and everyone else, a supposed ally that is secretly evil and on and on. The redemption stories for most of the companions feels almost tacked on, like the expected path is the evil one.

Don't get me started on dex based characters that look like they're body builders on steroids.

I liked the game well enough, the voice acting is top notch, gameplay and visuals were awesome but I found myself enjoying the game in spite of the underlying tone. But I'm glad other people enjoy it. Maybe I'll even go back and play again someday.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I heard the thy guys who made Factorico are looking to make an RPG next. Hire them???