Larian Studios was on the brink of bankruptcy when it was making Divinity: Original Sin. The team has grown almost 10 times since then, although it still faces a lot of challenges on its way to complete Baldur’s Gate 3.
Larian founder Swen Vincke opened up about the studio’s growth during his speech at GDC 2022 (via PC Gamer).
He noted that he never expected the team to expand to 400 people to make Baldur’s Gate 3. However, the studio wouldn’t be able to fulfill its ambitions without this growth.
“There was a moment where we started understanding what we needed to do to make this game,” Vincke said. “We thought we understood. Then we actually really understood. And so we had two choices: we could scale it down, or we could scale ourselves up. And so we chose to scale ourselves up.”
Larian is now a global game developer spreading across seven studios in Dublin, Ghent, Quebec, Kuala Lumpur, Saint Petersburg, Guildford, and Barcelona (opened in June 2021).
Of course, this rapid growth was risky, especially taking into account its previous financial problems. However, Vincke says that Larian has never been about money.
“I guess a lot of people say that, but it’s really about what we need to make this game,” he noted. “I would literally have a revolution inside of my company if I forced them to lower their aspirations, the things they want to do. They’re really proud of Baldur’s Gate 3. They really want to reach the ambition that they have, because they all played Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 in their youth. This is a very important project for them.”
That’s why Larian Studios made a decision to postpone Baldur’s Gate 3 to 2023, not wishing to release the most ambitious game in its history until it is 100% finished.