Baldur’s Gate 4: Partially Playable Before Larian Scrapped It

According to Swen Vincke, a version of Baldur’s Gate 4 that was partially playable and would have been well-received by players was in development before ultimately being scrapped.

Despite being launched a year ago, Baldur’s Gate 3 continues to thrive and attract players. The game has received numerous awards and its current player count indicates that it is still highly popular among gamers.

It didn’t take long for fans to begin expressing their desire for more content. However, in March 2024, Larian announced that they would no longer be involved with D&D and Baldur’s Gate 3.

According to an interview with Swen Vincke from PCGamer, it was discovered that a partially playable version of Baldur’s Gate 4 was in development at one point. After the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the team began to work on a sequel or, initially, an expansion.

A screenshot featuring Gale in Baldur's Gate 3. — larian studios

Baldur’s Gate 3 still has a ridiculous player count as the first-anniversary approaches.

Swen Vincke mentioned that they already have the engine and everything they need, so adding extra levels or creating new stories should not be too difficult.

Additionally, it has been disclosed that players “would have appreciated”the ability to play content before it was officially released. Swen confirms that progress was swift due to the production machine being still warm.

The thought of dedicating the “next three years”to an expansion didn’t sound appealing, but the situation is different when it comes to creating Baldur’s Gate 4.

“That sounds like an excellent plan. Let’s create BG4 and transfer all the work we did for this project into it. I’m sure people will be thrilled with it. Let’s go for it.”

Ultimately, the team decided to abandon the project as they realized they would have to spend additional years “repeating the same task.”This prompted the team to explore ways to work on projects that they were passionate about and that “sparked their enthusiasm.”

Currently, Larian has disclosed that they are in the process of developing two highly ambitious RPGs. As of now, fans will need to exercise patience as they continue to work on their next major project.