After 10 million sales and record-breaking critical acclaim, Baldur's Gate 3 CEO explains the secret to the RPG's success: "Treat your players as you would like to be treated"

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3 was a runaway success both critically and commercially, and now its CEO has explained his philosophy behind treating the RPG's ever-growing community.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz after Baldur's Gate 3's record-breaking win at the BAFTAs, Swen Vincke was asked how his team went about building momentum for the game, and then maintaining that strong start. What he offered was "a very Catholic answer - treat your players as you would like to be treated, that's it."

"We had the best marketing campaign in the world," he continues, "which was our players talking about it. We had over a million players from the first week that were talking to their friends about the game." Leaning on his time at Paradox Interactive, Vincke explains that "there's this old rule I once picked up [...], that if you take your pre-orders and multiply it by ten, you know what you essential audience is going to be."

Later in the interview, after discussing the importance of long-term thinking over short-term profit-seeking - something that Vincke has railed against since the release of the game - Vincke talks about the amount of work that's gone into Baldur's Gate 3 since release: "We updated it, we added new content - I think word of mouth is doing its job. There's a lot of epople telling their friends that they should try BG3, so we're definitely seeing a lot of new players getting on board with it. I mean, our marketing strategy was word of mouth. We said, if you get critical acclaim in word of mouth, the rest will follow."

The rest has certainly followed. At GDC, it was confirmed that Baldur's Gate 3 seemed well ahead of even Vincke's estimates, eclipsing ten million sales. And while no Larian-made sequel or DLC is on the horizon, the studio's next two games - based around original IP - are certainly in a very healthy place.

Vincke said earlier this year he'd "finally figured out" the first act of his next project. 

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.

Read more
The key art for Baldur's Gate 3 showing dragons and the Nautilus, with Karlach standing in the foreground, weapon in hand
The Making of Baldur's Gate 3: "We really wanted to make it so that even if you don't know D&D or Baldur's Gate, you would still have exciting choices as a player"
Baldur's Gate 3 companion Shadowheart, a young woman with braided black hair and plated armor, smirking while glancing to the side
Baldur's Gate 3's Swen Vincke, feeling all "nostalgic," teases the "the story ain't over" for Larian Studios' "incredible journey"
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
As the "incredible journey" to Baldur's Gate 3 wraps up, Larian Studios has its "full attention" on its next RPG: "The story ain't over yet"
Baldur's Gate 3
Following Marvel Rivals layoffs, Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director says studios fail big games when they don't set expectations for players: "Under promise, over-deliver"
Dragon Age: The Veilguard reveal trailer screenshot showing Lace Harding, a dwarven woman with long red hair and a freckled face
Legendary Dragon Age writer looks to Baldur's Gate 3 devs while giving EA advice after The Veilguard: "Follow Larian's lead and double down on that"
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian Studios lead Swen Vincke declares that single-player games are, in fact, not "dead" at all – "they just have to be good"
Latest in RPG
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Reclaiming their crown, pacifist Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 player beats the whole RPG as "Merciful Henry": 1,741 strikes blocked, 472 knockouts, and zero kills
Top-down screenshot of Monsterpatch, showing a grid-based town with Pokemon-like creatures, GBC graphics and vegetations sprinkled about.
This cozy RPG promises a Pokemon and Stardew Valley mashup with "limitless customization," 208 monsters, and more, so no wonder its Kickstarter was funded in just 16 minutes
Dragon Age: The Veilguard art showing the RPG's companions grouped together
Dragon Age: The Veilguard director is leading an unannounced game for Wizards of the Coast, which recently hinted at more Baldur's Gate
A large, muscly bloke eating noodles at a bar while two people point pistols at him from behind in Cyberpunk 2077.
The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer enters into partnership with Pokemon Go owner to create a new game "set within one of CD Projekt's IPs"
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
The Witcher 4 and Naughty Dog's Intergalactic are reportedly skipping 2026 and won't be ready until at least the year after
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"