Even after a year and a half, fans are still deeply engaged with *Baldur's Gate 3*, often embarking on their second, third, or even tenth playthrough. However, with developer Larian Studios stepping away from the series, the future of *Baldur's Gate* now rests in the hands of Hasbro. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait long for updates on the franchise's direction.
At the recent Game Developers Conference, Dan Ayoub, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, shared with IGN that there's significant interest in *Baldur's Gate* following Larian's departure. "We're kind of working out our plans for the future and what we're going to be doing with that. And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that," Ayoub revealed. While he didn't specify whether this "stuff" pertains to a new *Baldur's Gate* game or another type of project, such as a crossover similar to the one with *Magic: The Gathering*, he expressed a desire for a *Baldur's Gate 4*. However, he acknowledged that creating such a game would be a lengthy process.
Ayoub emphasized that Hasbro is taking a measured approach to the franchise's future. "We're not in a hurry. Right? That's the thing, we're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it. We're starting to think about, okay, yeah, we're ready to start dipping toes a little bit and talking about a few things. And I think, in really short order, like I said, again, not to over-tease that point, we're going to have some other things to talk about around that," he explained. He also highlighted the immense pressure to get the next *Baldur's Gate* right, noting that this pressure extends to other Dungeons & Dragons-related projects.
"I'm never one to shy down from a challenge," Ayoub stated, emphasizing the importance of raising the creative bar. "And I think anything that forces us to raise our creative bar, and developers love to have a high bar to go after, and I think we've actually seen the team push some really interesting ideas that they're like, 'Okay, we need to raise our bar. We need to go bigger on this.' And things like that. So, I think that's our hope, right? We would keep raising the bar and everyone just tries to go a little higher."
Ayoub also touched on other topics during the interview, including *Magic: The Gathering*, Hasbro's partnership with Saber Interactive, and their overall gaming strategy. Keep an eye out for the full interview next week for more insights.
Every IGN 10 of 2023
18 Images
