Baldur’s Gate 3 has shattered all expectations. Its massive 800,000 concurrent player launch was unprecedented for developer Larian Studios. Shortly after its release, Baldur’s Gate 3 soared to the top of Steam’s premium sales chart. It looks to remain high on the PS5 pre-order charts for some time, contending with Insomniac’s hotly-anticipated Spider-Man 2.
Somehow, the game has exceeded the expectations of its impressive Early Access sales. And no one is more surprised about this than Larian Studios’s CEO, Swen Vincke. In an interview with PC Gamer, Vincke talked about his worries regarding the game’s potential lackluster performance and how the game’s surprising sales summarily dashed those worries.
The Launch of Baldur’s Gate 3 Had Vincke “Holding his Heart”
“God, I hope there’s no big bug left,” was Vincke’s first reaction when he saw that Baldur’s Gate 3 was among Steam’s all-time most-played games just days after its launch. While success can be a great relief for some, it seemed to only induce nerves for Vincke:
“This was not in the books at all. This was way, way beyond what we expected. There’s also no precedent for it, for our type of game to have that many people playing concurrently … everybody here is very happy. You see a lot of smiling faces. At the same time, a lot of focus. We have reports coming in from people having issues, so we’re focused on fixing those issues, that’s very much on everyone’s minds.”
-Swen Vincke
Indeed, for a turn-based RPG to have as many players at launch as Baldur’s Gate 3 is unheard of. For Vincke, however, his fears had carried over from the game’s Early Access period:
“We’ve seen that in the past, other games were very successful in early access and then on the day of release they didn’t sell much more because they saturated already… that was my biggest fear, that that had happened.”
-Swen Vincke
With a lot riding on Vincke’s shoulders and the pressure to deliver, it came as a great relief and shock that Baldur’s Gate 3 was not just not underperforming but was a smash hit.
What’s Next for Larian Studios after Baldur’s Gate 3?
So, what does the future hold for Larian? According to Vincke, the company is staying the course:
“We are on the road that we wanted to be on. It’s a little bit slower than we expected, because the events of the last couple years have slowed down development for everybody, but this is what we want to do: Make these multiplayer systems-driven RPGs and bring them to you in an immersive manner, which means bringing them to you in a cinematic way. [With Baldur’s Gate 3] we took the next step on that road and we’ll continue building on that. That’s what we want to do.”
-Swen Vincke
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Well, there you have it. Larian remains level-headed going into the future, and it’s only a matter of time before we see what they come up with next. So, have you been playing Baldur’s Gate 3? What would you like to see next from Larian Studios? Please drop a comment and let us know!
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