They say that you never know what’s going to happen with something until you put it out there. An idea is just an idea until it’s real and people can weigh in on it. Without “going for it” and creating something fresh, unique, or special, we’d be stuck in a rut of repetitive ideas or false perceptions of things. How does that tie into Baldur’s Gate 3? Simple, the Dungeons & Dragons universe has been put into the video game space many times over the years, but rarely in a way that felt like the legendary tabletop system, or with the scope and epicness that video games could offer.
But with Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios put everything they had, alongside their partners in Wizards of the Coast, to ensure that everything was accurate, fun and played like a true version of D&D. In a chat with GameIndustry.Biz, Dan Ayoub, Hasbro’s head of digital product development talked about the success of the Game of the Year title and why gamers resonated with it:
“One of the great things we took from the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 is that people really, really like a great, well-executed D&D game. For the company and for myself, that was a fantastic example of execution of the brand in an authentic way. And the players came. They loved it and are asking for more. And I think you can see that with other brands as well.”
As someone who’s still playing it myself, but never truly played D&D, I can attest to how fun it is from a “casual fan” level. The game is great, layered, has epic characters (especially Karlach) and I’m always eager to see what happens next. Larian Studios took their time with the title and ensured that everything was as it should be so players of all D&D skill levels could enjoy it, and it worked! So, hopefully, whoever takes the reins next will remember this and not attempt to rush something out.
You know, like MANY other developers/publishers have done with their franchises in recent history?
