With layoffs and studio shutdowns becoming an almost weekly occurrence in the video game world, Larian Studios' CEO comfortably claims the developer is "good for quite a number of years."
In an interview with Eurogamer, studio founder Swen Vincke discussed how the team grew from 50 employees in 2014 to a whopping 470 employees throughout Baldur's Gate 3's lengthy development - and more importantly, how it kept that growth sustainable.
"We built multiple failback positions in case it was going to go wrong - before we started doing this," Vincke explains. "I have a minority investment, so I had that in my back pocket in case it was going to go wrong… otherwise I wasn't going to take the risks that we took with Baldur's Gate 3 because it was too much of a risk."
Vincke also explains that strong sales from Baldur's Gate 3's early access tenure gave the team "a really good indicator" of how the game would sell when it properly launched. "You can forecast more or less where you're gonna land based on early access sales," he continues, "so we could see where we are."
Of course, Baldur's Gate 3 was a massive success with countless award wins and record-smashing sales under its belt. Baldur's Gate 3 was one of the most-played and best-selling games on Steam in 2023. According to estimates from the PC Market Report, the game also made more money than fellow RPGs Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield combined.
With such unexpected success, Vincke claims the studio is now "good for quite a number of years with where we are right now." Hopefully, that sustainability lasts until even after the team releases its next project, as the developer currently has "two games that we want to make," but neither will dwarf Baldur's Gate 3 in size. Instead, Vincke is plotting a far-out mega RPG that could dwarf them all.
Elsewhere in Eurogamer's interview, Vincke discusses whether layoffs and downsizing are inherent in video game development, especially after a project is finished and staff have nothing to immediately work on. "It happens, for sure," he says. "When things are starting to run late, what can you do?" The CEO explains that outsourcing and contract work can sometimes help that issue, but there's no one-size-fits-all solution since onboarding can take up lots of time.
"You're an idiot," are the words Vincke had for studios engaging in mass layoffs.
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