The History and Future of the Baldur's Gate Franchise

BG3 is taking over the gaming community, but how did we got here?

As children, we all imagined ourselves as heroes of the realms, running around with our friends, and playing out the battles we imagined in our heads.

Now, LARP-ing is the same, just as a 30-year-old. And DnD? It's also the same, just without being outside. Luckily, with Baldur’s Gate, you don’t even need friends to partake.

I’m 56 hours into Baldur’s Gate 3 and still don’t know who is Baldur and where is his gate. So I decided to look behind and actually see how we got here.

By the way, there will be NO SPOILERS for the games or the DLCs. I’m sure many younger gamers will want to try out their enhanced versions after playing BG3 (me included), so I don’t want to ruin that experience.

History

1. DnD

Jokes aside, the BG franchise would have no history or future without DnD.

BG was one of the first-ever games to implement the game mechanics of DnD. Even before that, RPG games were among the first to gain popularity on the internet. CRPG games had their heyday in the 80s and early 90s. Initially, you could join text-only RPG games online, which all looked like complex Word files. But they proved that players’ imaginations could truly fill in the blanks. Later, the first video games, like Wizardry 1-2 or Dark Coast, marked significant progress for the genre.

As the next millennium approached, role-playing games seemed like a slowly dying niche. FPS games were all the rage. So, when a fresh, unknown studio called BioWare secured the rights to DnD, they were uncertain if their new game would find success.

2. Baldur's Gate I-II.

The funniest thing is, that the creators didn’t want to use the name Baldur’s Gate. The original title was ‘The Forgotten Realms’.

When the game hit the shelves in 1998, players were hooked. The first 50K copies flew off the shelves and the craze didn’t stop until hitting the magical 2 million mark. As you can imagine, this meant a plethora of DLCs, and of course a direct sequel.

As I said before I really don’t want to get into spoilers, but what I gathered BG2 was not only another financial and critical hit, and still has a cult following to this day.

I know we could talk a lot about the development process, but at this point, I made the decision to cut the history part short for several reasons.

First of all, even the remastered version of the original games came out in 2013. 10 years ago. I still stand behind that big fans of BG3 will give them a go too, but after the astronomical success of BG3, this game is the new history of the franchise. People will talk about this installment as the game that changed game development and player expectations.

A sequel for a game franchise after 23 years created by a completely different gaming studio rewrites things in my head. Yes BG 1 and 2 were successful in their time, but BG3 will go to the hall of Fame with Skyrim, Doom, or the Sims 2. So let’s talk about more important matters…

Present - Baldur's Gate 3

Astarion!

Maybe it’s only my TikTok feed ( follow me @dragonsandcodes ), but it seems like this pale elf is one of the reasons the game went viral.

But even before every #booktok girly was falling in love with yet another vampire, BG3 was already viral. As you most likely know the game was designed and created by the amazing people at Larian Studios. The team already worked on the enhanced version of Divinity 2, so the game genre and the player base were not unknown areas to them. They decided to actually listen to the community so the game has been in early access since 2020. Yes for over 2 years… This way the core players could give them feedback, and would ensure that the game was playable at launch. I know this seems like an alien concept these days.

Maybe it’s only my TikTok feed ( follow me @dragonsandcodes ), but it seems like this pale elf is one of the reasons the game went viral.

But even before every #booktok girly was falling in love with yet another vampire, BG3 was already viral. As you most likely know the game was designed and created by the amazing people at Larian Studios. The team already worked on the enhanced version of Divinity 2, so the game genre and the player base were not unknown areas to them. They decided to actually listen to the community so the game has been in early access since 2020. Yes for over 2 years… This way the core players could give them feedback, and would ensure that the game was playable at launch. I know this seems like an alien concept these days.

Ahhh…Not really, as some developers got butt hurt because now players will expect playable, well-thought-out games from now on…Ouch.

But yeah, BG3 went viral again during the opening week, and people played it for over a 1,500 years combined. Just in the last month, we got 2 big updates too, so the launch of this game should be taught to other game studios.

Even non-gamers couldn't miss it as the game took over several other communities too.

The most notable is the bookish community. Fantasy books centered around morally grey, but lovable characters are all the rage right now, so no wonder BG3 created quite a bit of interest in this niche too. IMO this game is going to be a gateway franchise for a lot of fantasy readers, which means even more enthusiasm for the future of Baldur’s Gate…

Future

After the astronomical success of the BG3 and Larian Studios already hinting at possible DLC content I can safely say that the franchise will be continued for sure. What I can imagine is having extra game packs like for the Sims for the next 2-5 years depending on the long-term player numbers. The fans want more, and Larian will most likely deliver.

They even encourage the modding community to take part in the game's future. They would be crazy not to. Other examples like Skyrim, GTA, or even the Sims show that modders can not only keep games alive but also revive them if needed. This fact will most likely ensure the legacy of BG3. Mark my word, in a decade people will make essays about how BG3 changed gaming in the early 2020s.

If I’m thinking further into the future I think VR can be a really interesting add-on. I’m definitely not talking about the current state of VR gaming, but with the hope that in 3-5 years it can be actually immersive.

Imagine not only creating your party but also being in it! You could create your likeness in the game ( choose the perfect penis option ) and then live through everything your character is. While I'm not the biggest fan of VR gaming, games like Elven Assassin captivate me. Every time we play it I truly immersive myself and can finally live out my fantasy fantasies.

If Larian Studios would take their amazing world-building, storytelling, and Astarion… and somehow invent how to make VR gaming actually enjoyable it would change the gaming industry forever.

But we never know what the future holds until it happens…