Baldur's Gate's Future to be Discussed Soon, Says Hasbro SVP of Games

Baldur's Gate 3, now a year-and-a-half old, continues to captivate fans through multiple playthroughs. As developer Larian steps away from the series, the future of Baldur's Gate rests in the hands of Hasbro. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait long to learn more about the franchise's direction.

During a conversation with IGN at the Game Developers Conference, Dan Ayoub, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, revealed that there is significant interest in Baldur's Gate from various parties. "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," he stated.

Ayoub remained tight-lipped on specifics, leaving open the possibility of either a full-fledged new entry, such as Baldur's Gate 4, or perhaps another crossover project similar to the collaboration with Magic: The Gathering. He expressed a desire for a Baldur's Gate 4 but acknowledged the lengthy development process such a project would require.

"It's somewhat of an unenviable position," Ayoub admitted. "I mean, 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 also emphasized the immense pressure to deliver a worthy successor to Baldur's Gate, which extends to other Dungeons & Dragons-related projects, including a game announced by Hasbro last year.

"I'm never one to shy down from a challenge," Ayoub noted. "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."

The discussion with Ayoub also covered a range of other topics, including Magic: The Gathering, the partnership with Saber Interactive, and Hasbro's overall gaming strategy. Look out for the full interview next week for more insights.

Every IGN 10 of 2023

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