Baldur’s Gate 3 dev wants to encourage other RPGs

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer, Larian Studios, is hoping its success will encourage other RPGs to get weird and go on aloof tangents. We doubt many people anticipated this to be the standout Game of the Year, with its Xbox version releasing earlier this month, but come this year’s TGA, that’s exactly what happened.

Speaking with GQ, lead systems designer Nick Pechenin expressed how he wants to see people go on weird tangents about improving what Larian did. This led to Writing Director Adam Smith chiming in, saying how RPGs never went away, particularly in the indie space, but he wants people to go to publishers and point to BG3’s success as a way to find a publisher.

Naturally, this progression isn’t going to happen overnight, but no doubt there will be developers approaching publishers with RPG ideas and using Baldur’s Gate 3 as a reason why the publisher should take the risk on a more traditional RPG. Considering on top of the GOTY award, it also nabbed Best Community Support, Best Multiplayer, Best RPG, and Players’ Voice, publishers might take such pitches more seriously.

“I hope it kicks the doors open. If you look at the indie space, RPGs never went away. People can go to a publisher and say, “Well, look what it f***ing did for them.”

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Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he's been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he's worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what's he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.