Larian founder responds to debate over Baldur's Gate 3 'raising the bar' for RPGs: 'this is videogames, standards just die every day'

09.08.2023 - 23:57 / pcgamer.com / Xalavier Nelson-Junior / Swen Vincke / Josh Sawyer

Baldur's Gate 3 is an exceptional game: a grognardy CRPG with complex and barely-explained D&D rules and a massive mainstream success, even before its console releases. With Diablo 4's always-online grind providing the perfect contrast, it's come across to some as a victory over malignant modern videogame trends: Where other companies build cosmetics stores and battle passes, Larian has succeeded through good old fashioned respect for player freedom and quality craftwork, or so goes some popular posts and articles. A handful of game developers, meanwhile, have cautioned against oversimplifying the lesson, arguing that Baldur's Gate 3 is an anomaly that even big studios won't be able to replicate. Online arguing has ensued.

In an interview with PC Gamer earlier this week, Larian founder Swen Vincke weighed in on the debate, which he finds somewhat perplexing. It's a given that not any studio could make Baldur's Gate 3, he said, but he questions the importance of videogame «standards,» which he says «die every day» as new ideas emerge and old one are reinvented. 

Backing up to the start, the conversation coalesced in large part around a Twitter thread by game designer (and former PC Gamer contributor) Xalavier Nelson Jr, who sought to «gently, pre-emptively push back against players» who would use their excitement for Baldur's Gate 3 to «apply criticism or a 'raised standard' to RPGs going forward.» His argument was that Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a schema that any RPG developer can work to, but the product of a particular developer taking a huge risk under a particular set of circumstances.

«In an era of megagames, Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the largest attempted, built by a specialized group of people using mature tech specially built to make *this specific game*, reinforced by invaluable mass player feedback AND market validation ahead of its launch,» wrote Nelson. «This is not a new baseline for RPGs—this is an anomaly. Trying to do the same thing in the same way, especially without the same advantages, could kill an entire GROUP of studios.»

Responding to the thread, Obsidian designer Josh Sawyer agreed that «the conditions under which BG3 was made are atypical,» as did Diablo 4 senior designer Chris Balser, who said that «people too often only look at the fruits of labour and not the labour itself.» On the flipside, a lot of gamers read these cautions against rising expectations as defensive. Why not expect more from RPGs after a developer has successfully pushed the genre's boundaries in a direction we like?

Asked about the debate, Vincke agreed that Baldur's Gate 3 could only have come about under certain circumstances—«obviously, yeah, if you're a 50 man studio or 10 man studio, you shouldn't try to