Published on

Baldur's Gate 3 CEO explains why Larian changed the D&D RPG's release plans to avoid Starfield: 'They were the bigger boat'

Baldur's Gate 3's CEO, Swen Vincke, explains the decision to release the game on PC ahead of Starfield, citing respect for Bethesda and a desire to differentiate the game through its focus on narrative and player immersion. While both RPGs were commercial successes, Baldur's Gate 3 has received more critical acclaim.

Cover

Baldur's Gate 3's CEO says that he has "a lot of respect for Bethesda," and that's why his RPG gave way to Starfield ahead of release last year.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Swen Vincke shed some light on Larian's decision to split the PC and PS5 release of Baldur's Gate 3 up. While the PS5 version maintained an August 31, 2023 release date that saw it go directly up against Starfield's early access launch, the PC version moved up nearly a month, releasing on August 3. At the time, Vincke commented that last summer was "an extremely busy period for RPGs," and that with Baldur's Gate ready to go early on PC, the decision was made to release it ahead of schedule.

Now, Vincke's spoken on that choice in more detail. Acknowledging that "I have a lot of respect for Bethesda," he opted for a nautical-themed explanation: "If you're at sea and a bigger boat passes by, the rule is that you go out of the way for the bigger boat - they were the bigger boat." But while Larian was prepared to "get out of the way" for Bethesda, Vincke says "we still wanted the world to pay attention to us."

To that end, the Baldur's Gate 3 team made sure to differentiate itself from Starfield in players' mind, highlighting the game's focus on narrative, player identity, cinematics, and immersion. While Starfield opted for scale, Vincke suggests that Larian opted for a smaller, more intimate, bespoke, experience.

That approach seemed to work. While both RPGs were commercial successes, Baldur's Gate 3 has swept awards ceremonies while Starfield has struggled to have the same critical impact. Future plans for both games, however, appear to still be up in the air - Larian says it's not working on Baldur's Gate 3 anymore, preferring instead to move onto its own IP. Starfield, meanwhile, has its first expansion, Shattered Space, on the way, but we still know next to nothing about what that will look like.

Vincke's other secret to success? "Treat your players as you would like to be treated."