It’s been revealed that Hasbro approached the former co-lead designer of Baldur’s Gate 2, James Ohlen, to work on the development of Baldur’s Gate 4. Perhaps surprisingly, Ohlen turned down the offer, citing that it “would fail.”
This comes after Larian Studios, developers of the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3, decided to ultimately step away from the franchise to return to its own IP, Divinity. However, Hasbro is still intent on making a sequel, whether Larian is involved or not.
Competing With Baldur’s Gate 3 Would Be ‘Insanity’
Speaking with PC Gamer, James Ohlen revealed that Hasbro approached him about making Baldur’s Gate 4 as soon as Larian confirmed it was moving on from the series.
However, Ohlen had little interest in taking on the project, admitting he didn’t believe he could live up to Baldur’s Gate 3. He felt that following Larian’s Game Of The Year winner would be an almost impossible task, saying he was convinced he’d fail to match what the studio had achieved.
I wouldn’t want to compete against that. Doing Exodus is hard enough, but having to compete against Baldur’s Gate 3? That would be insanity.
He then proceeded to explain how long it would take to develop Baldur’s Gate 4 from scratch. Larian used its own proprietary engine for BG3, which they’ve iterated on since the days of Divinity: Original Sin. Ohlen explained that it would take “at least half a decade of horror, building all that stuff.”
In fact, he even asked whether Larian could license its engine, but that clearly wasn’t an option. He ultimately concluded that Swen Vincke, Larian CEO, is just the “master of building those kinds of things,” and dethroning him would be near impossible thanks to his studio’s foundational tools, institutional knowledge and team.
With Larian hard at work on Divinity, and previous Baldur’s Gate designers turning down the opportunity, what does that mean for the future of Baldur’s Gate? It remains unclear, but Hasbro is undoubtedly searching for some way to continue the franchise’s success, with other Dungeons & Dragons games in development in the meantime.
Would you like to see Baldur’s Gate 4 without Larian? Or should Hasbro just focus on other D&D titles instead? Share your thoughts in the official Insider Gaming Discord Server.
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Charlie is one of Insider Gaming's Guides Writers who's been in the gaming industry for a little over a year. Unfortunately for him, he enjoys every video game genre out…
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