Larian General Discussion Thread

[frajaq]

its fucking happening

 

[Swen]

BAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!

https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1747556874562457799

 

[Cryomancer]

Amazing take.

And to complement. With sub fee becoming the standard :

1. Old games will just die, removed like some series are from netflix.
2. Focus on adiction will be more common than games trying to be amazing experiences.
3. Lack of modding + censorship
4. Indies will gonna die or only be accepted into sub services IF the indie dev has connections
5. Spying in the costumer

And most important. Flops like Starfield without gamepass would be much worse. Sub fee becoming the market standard would be a huge tragedy.

 

[jf8350143]

IGN writes about edgy hot takes from Ubisoft developers and people are taking it seriously?

As far as I can tell steam is the monopoly here, not xgp or whatever shit service sony is using. And steam's still on the uprise.

 

[Abu Antar]

A rumour about Larian opening a Polish studio.

Larian Wants to Establish New Studio? We Have New Info About Baldur's Gate 3 Devs' Plans

https://www.gamepressure.com/newsro...ew-studio-we-have-new-info-about-baldu/z96946

According to information received by our site from a reliable source, the devs of Baldur's Gate 3 are planning to establish a Polish branch. We're not sure about the exact location, but Warsaw is an obvious candidate. The reports were also confirmed by a second, independent source.


Even though our informers are sure of this information, keep in mind that this is not an official statement and plans can change. Larian Studio hasn't yet replied to our request for commenting on these reports, and the job offers on the developer's official website don't mention anything about the new studio.

However, it's worth noting that this wouldn't be the second or even third branch of Larian Studios. While some still consider it an independent team, the developer now has six studios, with four of them located in Barcelona, Dublin, Ghent, and Guildford.

The Polish contribution to the production of the company's latest hit should also be mentioned. Poles from Anshar Studios (Gamedec, Zoria: Age of Shattering), located in Katowice, helped with Baldur's Gate III. Previously, they collaborated with the Fool's Theory team (The Thaumaturge) to develop several complimentary expansions for Divinity: Original Sin 2, which were distributed as Gift Bags.

So, Polish developers are no strangers to Larian. While we are convinced of the truthfulness of our two independent sources, these plans will only be confirmed after an official announcement from the studio.

 

[Gargaune]

Wait, what?! I actually gave that a

and then I remembered, wasn't BG3 originally slated to release on fucking Stadia?

 

[StrongBelwas]

Wait, what?! I actually gave that a

and then I remembered, wasn't BG3 originally slated to release on fucking Stadia?

From what I recall, you had to buy the stuff you wanted to play on Stadia, he's not saying anything about game streaming itself there. The fact you needed a subscription on top of all that was probably one of the many reasons it died.

 

[Gargaune]

From what I recall, you had to buy the stuff you wanted to play on Stadia, he's not saying anything about game streaming itself there. The fact you needed a subscription on top of all that was probably one of the many reasons it died.

Ah, is that how it worked? Well, good fucking riddance anyway.

Fine, I'll put the

back... for now.

 

[Morgoth]

Baldur's Gate 3 boss blasts publisher "greed" behind layoffs​

GDC award show winners, hosts criticise year of mass job losses.

The director of Baldur's Gate 3, Swen Vincke, was one of many to speak out on the recent mass layoffs within the video games industry at an industry awards show last night, blaming the job losses on corporate "greed" that had been "fucking this whole thing up for so long".

Held as part of the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, the Independent Games Festival Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards were full of criticism for companies that had made workers redundant over the past 18 months, during what has widely been regarded as the worst period ever seen for job security in the video games industry.

"Greed has been fucking this whole thing up for so long, since I started," Vincke said, while collecting the GDCA Best Narrative award for Baldur's Gate 3. "I've been fighting publishers my entire life and I keep on seeing the same, same, same mistakes over, and over and over.

"It's always the quarterly profits," he continued, "the only thing that matters are the numbers, and then you fire everybody and then next year you say 'shit I'm out of developers' and then you start hiring people again, and then you do acquisitions, and then you put them in the same loop again, and it's just broken...

"You don't have to," Vincke went on. "You can make reserves. Just slow down a bit. Slow down on the greed. Be resilient, take care of the people, don't lose the institutional knowledge that's been built up in the people you lose every single time, so you have to go through the same cycle over and over and over. It really pisses me off."

Vincke's comments were echoed by Xalavier Nelson Jr, studio head of Hypnospace Outlaw developer Strange Scaffold, who presented the Baldur's Gate 3 boss with the award.

"Narrative is the glue that holds a project together, the context and framing, characters and worlds that transform a good game into something transcendant," Nelson Jr said. "This past year, unfortunately, the most common narrative brought to us by the games industry is that making fantastic games requires layoffs and the destruction of human lives. This story is not only cruel, but it is definitively and provably false."

Criticism of the layoffs came not only from awards presenters and winners, but also from the GDCA show's host Alanah Pearce, who currently works as a writer at PlayStation's God of War studio Sony Santa Monica.

"People in this room have lost their jobs," Pearce noted. "People who normally attend GDC every year have had to cancel because coming here is sort of an extravagant luxury when you don't know when your next paycheque is coming.

"We've lost people with years of experience who have worked hard to make some of the games nominated tonight, but more importantly, we've watched our friends get laid off, we've seen how that impacts their families, their children."

Pearce even found room for a joke at The Game Awards' expense, displaying a 'Please Wrap it Up' message on screen as her speech continued, alluding to the much-criticised hurrying off of award winners from Geoff Keighley's show last year.

Further criticism of the industry's layoffs came from Independent Game Festival chairperson Shawn Pierre, who introduced the awards evening.

"It's been so difficult to see our peers not treated with the respect they deserve," Pierre said. "We've already seen thousands of people losing work this year because they're not being valued the way they should be. People are working overtime and on weekends only to be left behind when a game is completed. It's unhealthy, it's certainly not sustainable, and the end result of this is a weaker game industry for all of us."

Pierre went on to condemn the current wave of harassment targeting specific developers who, he said, were being made to feel their work was "harmful to games".

"Between the countless announcements of layoffs, we're also reading too many stories of how people are being systematically pushed out of the game industry rather than being empowered or recognised for their contributions," Pierre said. "They're being made to feel like they don't belong, that the work they are doing is not significant, and instead harmful to games. This is beyond unacceptable, and change is well overdue."

Earlier this week, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) published a statement expressing "deep concern" over the "increased harassment of historically marginalised developers and those advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives".

"These concerns stem from similar harassment campaigns experienced during the GamerGate period in the mid-2010s," the non-profit IGDA wrote. "Harassment has no place in games or the games industry, and we must create a safe, welcoming, and equitable environment for everyone."

Thousands of games industry staff have lost their jobs over the past 18 months at video game developers and publishers big and small - and it is an inescapable topic at the moment across the games industry. As for the financial triggers, we recently took a look at what is going on with layoffs in the video games industry for the business reasons behind the job losses.

 

[Swen]

Baldur's Gate 3 boss blasts publisher "greed" behind layoffs​

GDC award show winners, hosts criticise year of mass job losses.

The director of Baldur's Gate 3, Swen Vincke, was one of many to speak out on the recent mass layoffs within the video games industry at an industry awards show last night, blaming the job losses on corporate "greed" that had been "fucking this whole thing up for so long".

Held as part of the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, the Independent Games Festival Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards were full of criticism for companies that had made workers redundant over the past 18 months, during what has widely been regarded as the worst period ever seen for job security in the video games industry.

"Greed has been fucking this whole thing up for so long, since I started," Vincke said, while collecting the GDCA Best Narrative award for Baldur's Gate 3. "I've been fighting publishers my entire life and I keep on seeing the same, same, same mistakes over, and over and over.

"It's always the quarterly profits," he continued, "the only thing that matters are the numbers, and then you fire everybody and then next year you say 'shit I'm out of developers' and then you start hiring people again, and then you do acquisitions, and then you put them in the same loop again, and it's just broken...

"You don't have to," Vincke went on. "You can make reserves. Just slow down a bit. Slow down on the greed. Be resilient, take care of the people, don't lose the institutional knowledge that's been built up in the people you lose every single time, so you have to go through the same cycle over and over and over. It really pisses me off."

Vincke's comments were echoed by Xalavier Nelson Jr, studio head of Hypnospace Outlaw developer Strange Scaffold, who presented the Baldur's Gate 3 boss with the award.

"Narrative is the glue that holds a project together, the context and framing, characters and worlds that transform a good game into something transcendant," Nelson Jr said. "This past year, unfortunately, the most common narrative brought to us by the games industry is that making fantastic games requires layoffs and the destruction of human lives. This story is not only cruel, but it is definitively and provably false."

Criticism of the layoffs came not only from awards presenters and winners, but also from the GDCA show's host Alanah Pearce, who currently works as a writer at PlayStation's God of War studio Sony Santa Monica.

"People in this room have lost their jobs," Pearce noted. "People who normally attend GDC every year have had to cancel because coming here is sort of an extravagant luxury when you don't know when your next paycheque is coming.

"We've lost people with years of experience who have worked hard to make some of the games nominated tonight, but more importantly, we've watched our friends get laid off, we've seen how that impacts their families, their children."

Pearce even found room for a joke at The Game Awards' expense, displaying a 'Please Wrap it Up' message on screen as her speech continued, alluding to the much-criticised hurrying off of award winners from Geoff Keighley's show last year.

Further criticism of the industry's layoffs came from Independent Game Festival chairperson Shawn Pierre, who introduced the awards evening.

"It's been so difficult to see our peers not treated with the respect they deserve," Pierre said. "We've already seen thousands of people losing work this year because they're not being valued the way they should be. People are working overtime and on weekends only to be left behind when a game is completed. It's unhealthy, it's certainly not sustainable, and the end result of this is a weaker game industry for all of us."

Pierre went on to condemn the current wave of harassment targeting specific developers who, he said, were being made to feel their work was "harmful to games".

"Between the countless announcements of layoffs, we're also reading too many stories of how people are being systematically pushed out of the game industry rather than being empowered or recognised for their contributions," Pierre said. "They're being made to feel like they don't belong, that the work they are doing is not significant, and instead harmful to games. This is beyond unacceptable, and change is well overdue."

Earlier this week, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) published a statement expressing "deep concern" over the "increased harassment of historically marginalised developers and those advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives".

"These concerns stem from similar harassment campaigns experienced during the GamerGate period in the mid-2010s," the non-profit IGDA wrote. "Harassment has no place in games or the games industry, and we must create a safe, welcoming, and equitable environment for everyone."

Thousands of games industry staff have lost their jobs over the past 18 months at video game developers and publishers big and small - and it is an inescapable topic at the moment across the games industry. As for the financial triggers, we recently took a look at what is going on with layoffs in the video games industry for the business reasons behind the job losses.

How can you hate Codex? How can you hate?

 

[Jeskis]

Best narrative lmao.
He’s right tho.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Roguey]

Polish pride worldwide https://www.gamepressure.com/newsro...ly-has-studio-in-poland-baldurs-gate-3/z46af7

In February, we were the first in the world to receive information that Larian Studios intended to open a new branch located in Poland. Our sources were right - the creators of Baldur's Gate 3 have a new studio. Larian Studios Poland, a limited liability company, was registered in the National Court Register on March 12, 2024.

As we suspected, the branch is located in Warsaw, specifically in Wola, at 87 Grzybowska Street, in the Concept Tower skyscraper

 

[scytheavatar]

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-big-l...y-woes-optimism-and-life-after-baldurs-gate-3

You mentioned the new game briefly - the thing that I picked up from one of your other chats was that it would "dwarf" BG3...


Vincke:

Did I say that, really like that? I think that I've been misquoted on this.


Oh really?


Vincke: Yeah, no. So that's a bit - I saw that pass by and said, like "I need to check what I actually said". So either [it was] because I was heavily jetlagged, so either I said it wrongly...


So it's not the very big RPG that will dwarf them all, that we're making now. I mean, we have a couple of - we have two games that we want to make, and we actually intended on making after BG3, so we're just back on that track now. They're big and ambitious, that's for sure. But I mean, I think scope wise, BG3 is probably already good enough!


I was going to say, yeah, it didn't sound like you were talking in that talk going: Oh, yeah, we definitely need to make something even bigger…


Vincke: That's why I'm surprised…


The specific wording that you had in the talk was like, we're gonna do "something new." I wanted to see if you could clarify whether that meant a new IP, or just not D&D.


Vincke: Well it's not D&D. So we're - new in the sense that it is different from the things that we've done before. Still familiar enough, but different. I mean, like: tone, style, way of doing it, are for us certainly new. And I think very appealing. I would love to talk about it already because I'm excited about it but I can't say more. But it's new in that sense.

Seems to be confirming that Larian is working on 2 games now that has a different "tone and style" than past Larian games. Will they come out that way?

The fact that Vincke thinks 5e is too complicated doesn't inspire confidence too considering how dumbed down 5e already is.

 

[Roguey]

"Yeah, they're Rivellon games, but they're different Rivellon games."

 

[kigmathelm]

I kinda liked DOS games, but them ruining BG means I'll likely skip their new stuff. Looking like its gonna be even more retarded.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/l...just-at-risk-of-pissing-off-the-shareholders/

Larian publishing director on mass layoffs: 'None of these companies are at risk of going bankrupt. They were just at risk of pissing off the shareholders'​

"We should be humbled by this period. It doesn't feel like we're humbled by this period as an industry."

Speaking with Game File (users will encounter a paywall) at the Game Developers Choice Awards, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse gave his take on the current state of the industry, including some sharp criticism on the wave after wave of mass layoffs we've been seeing.

"They are an avoidable fuck-up," Douse said. "That's all they really are. That's why you see one after the other. Because companies are going: 'Well, finally. Now we can, too. We've wanted to do it for ages. Everyone else is. So why don't we?' That's really kind of sick."

Though Douse allowed that big publishers are complicated operations that can't react quickly to new demands or market changes, he argued that better planning and leadership could have prevented the worst of what we're seeing, and expressed frustration with how the industry continues with its business as usual in glitzy events like the GDC Awards or BAFTAs: "We should be humbled by this period. It doesn't feel like we're humbled by this period as an industry."

He also pointed out that there's an issue of competing incentives for publicly traded game companies, with concerns over stock price coming at the expense of both players and developers: "None of these companies are at risk of going bankrupt," Douse said. "They're just at risk of pissing off the shareholders. And that's fine. That's how they work. The function of a public company is to create growth for its shareholders... It's not to make a happy climate for the employees."

Douse pointed to Swen Vincke's leadership, as well as Larian's ability to make risky moves unbeholden to shareholders, as major reasons for the company's success in recent years. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier argued a similar point in an op-ed back around Baldur's Gate 3's release.

Though Douse acknowledged that the final decision would always be up to Vincke, he said that going public would likely never be the move for Larian: "Creating the games that we wanted to make, going public might give us more money, but it would be antithetical to the quality part of what we're trying to do. So it wouldn't make our games better. It would just make us rushed."

You can check out the conversation in full by subscribing to Game File, the newsletter of former Kotaku editor in chief Stephen Totilo. Douse and Totilo also discussed how Steam and social media have changed the way games are sold, that consoles are still playing catch-up with PC in that area, and how early access is the way to go for Larian⁠—Douse noted that Larian's "whatever the next thing will be" will likely follow Original Sin 2 and Baldur's Gate 3's release model.

 

[Shaki]

Polish pride worldwide https://www.gamepressure.com/newsro...ly-has-studio-in-poland-baldurs-gate-3/z46af7

In February, we were the first in the world to receive information that Larian Studios intended to open a new branch located in Poland. Our sources were right - the creators of Baldur's Gate 3 have a new studio. Larian Studios Poland, a limited liability company, was registered in the National Court Register on March 12, 2024.

As we suspected, the branch is located in Warsaw, specifically in Wola, at 87 Grzybowska Street, in the Concept Tower skyscraper

Huh, combo of Polish writers/designers and Larian gameplay, maybe could finally make a good game. Polish games (like Witcher) generally have very strong atmosphere, writing, art design, but their gameplay and systems are some consolized dogshit. Larian is the opposite, they tend to have nice systems and gameplay, which are destroyed by Belgian "humour", wokeness and general incompetence of their writing cuck squad + uninspired and bland af art design. Best parts of Polish and Belgian devs combined, could actually result in something great. Or they can combine the worst parts, and make a complete abomination. Time will tell.

 

[Shrimp]

Polish pride worldwide https://www.gamepressure.com/newsro...ly-has-studio-in-poland-baldurs-gate-3/z46af7

In February, we were the first in the world to receive information that Larian Studios intended to open a new branch located in Poland. Our sources were right - the creators of Baldur's Gate 3 have a new studio. Larian Studios Poland, a limited liability company, was registered in the National Court Register on March 12, 2024.

As we suspected, the branch is located in Warsaw, specifically in Wola, at 87 Grzybowska Street, in the Concept Tower skyscraper

Huh, combo of Polish writers/designers and Larian gameplay, maybe could finally make a good game. Polish games (like Witcher) generally have very strong atmosphere, writing, art design, but their gameplay and systems are some consolized dogshit. Larian is the opposite, they tend to have nice systems and gameplay, which are destroyed by Belgian "humour", wokeness and general incompetence of their writing cuck squad + uninspired and bland af art design. Best parts of Polish and Belgian devs combined, could actually result in something great. Or they can combine the worst parts, and make a complete abomination. Time will tell.

I'm not sure if the Polish studio will be involved with writing. After looking through the descriptions of each of their six (6) other international studios it sounds like the writing's mostly handled by the studios in Ireland with some help (though seemingly mostly related to cutscenes and cinematics) from the studio in England.
I don't know what role Larian's old office in St. Petersburg filled, but I don't think it'd be unreasonable to expect that the new studio in Poland is meant to be its replacement.

 

[:Flash:]

Polish pride worldwide https://www.gamepressure.com/newsro...ly-has-studio-in-poland-baldurs-gate-3/z46af7

In February, we were the first in the world to receive information that Larian Studios intended to open a new branch located in Poland. Our sources were right - the creators of Baldur's Gate 3 have a new studio. Larian Studios Poland, a limited liability company, was registered in the National Court Register on March 12, 2024.

As we suspected, the branch is located in Warsaw, specifically in Wola, at 87 Grzybowska Street, in the Concept Tower skyscraper

Huh, combo of Polish writers/designers and Larian gameplay, maybe could finally make a good game. Polish games (like Witcher) generally have very strong atmosphere, writing, art design, but their gameplay and systems are some consolized dogshit. Larian is the opposite, they tend to have nice systems and gameplay, which are destroyed by Belgian "humour", wokeness and general incompetence of their writing cuck squad + uninspired and bland af art design. Best parts of Polish and Belgian devs combined, could actually result in something great. Or they can combine the worst parts, and make a complete abomination. Time will tell.

Reminds of the Alfa Romeo Arna, a joint venture between Alfa Romeo and Nissan, where the geniuses decided to combine Italian engineering with Japanese exterior design.
The resulting car was exactly what everyone else in the world could have predicted (both ugly and unreliable), but the bosses of these two companies knew better.

 

[Gargaune]

'None of these companies are at risk of going bankrupt. They were just at risk of pissing off the shareholders'

Yeah, I don't know why everyone keeps treating that as "just" some sort of triviality. Pissing off the owner is something management is usually eager to avoid in every industry.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/baldurs-gate-3-developers-next-game-likely-early-access-launch-too

Baldur's Gate 3 developer's next game likely early access launch too​

"This is the only way to do it now."

Larian, the developer behind hit role-player Baldur's Gate 3, has said it will likely follow the same early access release model for its unannounced next project.

In an interview with GameFile, Larian's director of publishing Michael Douse said early access was "the only way to do it now" to ensure the project grows alongside and in response to player feedback.

"This is the only way to do it now, especially if you consider the fact that the whole point of this stuff is to create social resonance, to create a situation where you have a constant dialogue with the players," Douse said.

"Our next - whatever the next thing will be - will also probably be in early access," he continued. "That way you remove a lot of the prediction, too. When you release a game in AAA, whatever method, [if] you don't have early access, you're taking a huge bet on the fact that this is good and people like it. In early access, you find out very quickly. It helps you steer the massive ship."

But launching in early access isn't without its risks, Douse continued - and isn't for everyone.

"It's scary," he said. "It turns your company sort of into a live service company, because you've got to feed that machine. But we were very open about not doing that. [We said:] 'We're not going to add story. Don't expect that. We didn't really add content. We added some, but we really slowed down. Setting expectations is really key. It's just going to be this one sort of fractal loop that's going to sort of adapt.

"If you don't know how to do early access, I wouldn't do early access, but if you are interested in creating a really strong core gameplay loop and then building around that, to foster a strong community, that's a really good way to do it. It's probably the best way to do it."

Baldur's Gate 3 launched in early access back in October 2020, with the first of the game's three acts included. It's full launch did not arrive until August 2023 on PC, with console versions following in the months after.

Larian still has plans to tweak Baldur's Gate 3 further, but won't release any major expansion and isn't working on a Baldur's Gate 4.

What's next from Larian will offer a different "tone, style, way of doing it", company founder Swen Vincke told Eurogamer last month, but won't "dwarf" Baldur's Gate 3 in size.

 

[Old Hans]

https://www.eurogamer.net/baldurs-gate-3-developers-next-game-likely-early-access-launch-too

Baldur's Gate 3 developer's next game likely early access launch too​

"This is the only way to do it now."

Larian, the developer behind hit role-player Baldur's Gate 3, has said it will likely follow the same early access release model for its unannounced next project.

In an interview with GameFile, Larian's director of publishing Michael Douse said early access was "the only way to do it now" to ensure the project grows alongside and in response to player feedback.

"This is the only way to do it now, especially if you consider the fact that the whole point of this stuff is to create social resonance, to create a situation where you have a constant dialogue with the players," Douse said.

"Our next - whatever the next thing will be - will also probably be in early access," he continued. "That way you remove a lot of the prediction, too. When you release a game in AAA, whatever method, [if] you don't have early access, you're taking a huge bet on the fact that this is good and people like it. In early access, you find out very quickly. It helps you steer the massive ship."

But launching in early access isn't without its risks, Douse continued - and isn't for everyone.

"It's scary," he said. "It turns your company sort of into a live service company, because you've got to feed that machine. But we were very open about not doing that. [We said:] 'We're not going to add story. Don't expect that. We didn't really add content. We added some, but we really slowed down. Setting expectations is really key. It's just going to be this one sort of fractal loop that's going to sort of adapt.

"If you don't know how to do early access, I wouldn't do early access, but if you are interested in creating a really strong core gameplay loop and then building around that, to foster a strong community, that's a really good way to do it. It's probably the best way to do it."

Baldur's Gate 3 launched in early access back in October 2020, with the first of the game's three acts included. It's full launch did not arrive until August 2023 on PC, with console versions following in the months after.

Larian still has plans to tweak Baldur's Gate 3 further, but won't release any major expansion and isn't working on a Baldur's Gate 4.

What's next from Larian will offer a different "tone, style, way of doing it", company founder Swen Vincke told Eurogamer last month, but won't "dwarf" Baldur's Gate 3 in size.

glad to see they will continue this bad habit

early access staff meeting: bad news folks, we have to totally re-write this 100% completele companion story, and redo all the voice acting, because DiaperLover69 complained on twitter

 

[Roguey]

glad to see they will continue this bad habit

Early Access has only made their games better. It's the first areas of Larian games that are universally praised.

 

[Old Hans]

glad to see they will continue this bad habit

Early Access has only made their games better. It's the first areas of Larian games that are universally praised.

they always fall under the sway of people like DiaperLover69, and they begin compromising on their vision. I still cannot forgive what they did to Anders and the Paladins of Tyr