Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons parent company Hasbro just announced it’s “talking to lots of partners” in the hunt for a sequel to Baldur’s Gate 3.
It took 25 years for Baldur’s Gate 3 to arrive as a successor to Baldur’s Gate 2, and Hasbro hopes there won’t be another quarter-of-a-century-long wait until the next entry in the series—but it needs to find a developer for the title.
Larian Studios announced its decision to walk away from the Dungeons & Dragons franchise in March, meaning there will be no DLC for the 2023 Game of the Year winner, and, more importantly, Larian won’t be involved in developing a sequel.
The Baldur’s Gate franchise will continue, however, with Hasbro’s senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast Eugene Evans telling PC Gamer that discussions are being held with “lots of partners.”
Though Hasbro hopes it won’t be another 25 years for the next title, it will take the time it needs to “find the right partner” and identify a developer who can get the right feel for the Baldur’s Gate franchise, which is something they take “very seriously.”
On the topic of whether a sequel to Baldur’s Gate 3 would continue the journey of beloved characters like Astarion, Shadowheart, and Karlach, Evans left the door open for their return by conceding they “could potentially appear in future products.”
Taking the reigns from Larian will certainly not be an easy task, with Evans admitting “the bar has been set very high,” and, despite the surprising divorce between Hasbro and Larian, there are no hard feelings.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s success led to a huge surge of interest in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise and fans will be treated to several new games in the future that “will appear over the next five years, and they will cover all genres, all platforms.”
We already know that Starbreeze, the developer of Payday 3, is making a licensed D&D game set for launch in 2026, while Gameloft announced in March that it’s also working on a D&D title.