With Larian leaving Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons behind to work on a brand new game, the future of the series and the characters the developer brought to life is up in the air. But for Hasbro, owner of Dungeons & Dragons operator Wizards of the Coast, the hope is fans won’t have to wait as long for the next Baldur’s Gate game as they did for Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3 launched 23 years after Baldur's Gate 2, which was developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It proved a smash hit, selling millions of copies and winning a number of game of the year awards. Now, it seems inevitable that Hasbro will continue the franchise, given the incredible success of Baldur’s Gate 3. And speaking to PC Gamer, Eugene Evans, senior vice president of Digital Strategy and Licensing for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, confirmed the company is talking to various potential partners to discuss the future of Baldur’s Gate.
"We're now talking to lots of partners and being approached by a lot of partners who are embracing the challenge of, what does the future of the Baldur's Gate franchise look like?" Evans said.
Unfortunately there’s no timeframe for the release of even announcement of the next Baldur’s Gate game, and Evans made it clear Hasbro is in no rush to make a decision. But, Evans said, the gap shouldn’t be as long as what’s gone before.
"So we certainly hope that it's not another 25 years, as it was from Baldur's Gate 2 to 3, before we answer that,” Evans said. “But we're going to take our time and find the right partner, the right approach, and the right product that could represent the future of Baldur's Gate. We take that very, very seriously, as we do with all of our decisions around our portfolio. We don't rush into decisions as to who to partner with on products or what products we should be considering."
Another lingering question surrounds the fate of Baldur’s Gate 3’s much-loved characters, including the likes of Astarion, Karlach, Gale, Wyll, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart. Speaking to IGN last week, actor Neil Newbon said he isn't necessarily done with Astarion, nor the universe that the character inhabits.
Based on Evans’ comments, it seems Hasbro is keen to make more of the Baldur’s Gate 3 characters, too. “... they are now essentially part of D&D canon,” Evans confirmed. "I think it's too early to express specifics and I think that there's a much bigger question about how we approach Baldur's Gate in the future. But I would like to think that all of those characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products."
Larian said in March 2024 it was done with Dungeons & Dragons despite the resounding success of Baldur's Gate 3's launch just months earlier. Wizards of the Coast was sure to announce more Dungeons & Dragons games after the role playing game arrived to immense critical praise though.
These include a cooperative multiplayer game from Payday 3 developer Starbreeze, a virtual reality game from Demeo creator Resolution Games, and a survival RPG life sim from Disney Dreamlight Valley developer Gameloft Montreal.
On the live action front, Paramount hasn't officially announced a sequel to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves but star Chris Pine says he's "pretty confident" it will happen. Paramount has also ordered an eight episode run of a live action TV series, creating more space for a potential appearance of Astarion or other Baldur's Gate 3 characters.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
