Despite being an independent studio, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has such a robust background in RPG development that it can afford to take risks other, less established studios simply can't. At least, that's the perspective of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader creative director Alexander Mishulin.
"Almost no developer has the same resources," Mishulin told Inverse. The Owlcat Games lead doesn't point to any one specific asset, but given the broader tone of the interview-fueled article, it can fairly safely be assumed that he's referring to the collective whole of Larian's unique access to funding through more than three years of paid Early Access, a veteran team of developers with decades of experience in RPG development, license access, a technical foundation, and probably more factors we aren't privy to or that I'm not thinking of.
It's a brief quote, but it's interesting in the context of who's saying it, that being the head of an independent studio behind a new, and largely acclaimed, CRPG in a popular and enduring franchise that started out as a tabletop RPG... a little like Baldur's Gate 3, if you think about it. Of course, Larian is a much more experienced studio, having been established way back in 1996, compared to Owlcat Games, founded much more recently in 2016 and with only a handful of games under its belt.
- 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"
- 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"
In previous comments to Polygon, Mishulin said: "Baldur's Gate 3's success is very encouraging. Larian Studios is doing great work, and as a result, they're bringing even more people into the CRPG genre, and renewing a lot of passion for it. Ideally, when those players all finally finish Baldur's Gate 3 they'll be even more ready to dive into Rogue Trader."
"We think that it's more of a blessing and we're really happy for Larian to release such a great game," he likewise said to Sports Illustrated's Video Games.
Mishulin is prudent enough to know that the wildfire success of Baldur's Gate 3 is an exception to the rule. It's testament enough that, at the start of an unprecedented year of video game releases, Baldur's Gate 3 was largely considered a relatively niche release, but is nonetheless the indisputable game of the year for 2023 despite competition from massive hitters like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Starfield.
Looking ahead, here are all of the new games of 2024 we can't wait to play.
