It's been a year and a half since the release of *Baldur's Gate 3*, and fans are still deeply immersed in their multiple playthroughs. However, with developer Larian Studios stepping away from the franchise, the future of *Baldur's Gate* now rests in the hands of Hasbro. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait too long for updates on what's next for the beloved series.
In a recent interview with IGN at the Game Developers Conference, Dan Ayoub, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, revealed that there is significant interest in *Baldur's Gate* from various parties. "We're kind of working out our plans for the future and what we're going to be doing with that. And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that," Ayoub stated. While he didn't specify whether this "stuff" refers to a new *Baldur's Gate* game or perhaps a crossover similar to the previous collaboration with *Magic: The Gathering*, he expressed a clear desire for a *Baldur's Gate 4*, albeit acknowledging that it would take time to develop.
Ayoub emphasized a measured approach to the franchise's future, indicating that Hasbro is not rushing into decisions. "We're not in a hurry. Right? That's the thing, we're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it. We're starting to think about, okay, yeah, we're ready to start dipping toes a little bit and talking about a few things," he explained. He also highlighted the immense pressure to ensure the next *Baldur's Gate* meets high expectations, a pressure that extends to other Dungeons & Dragons projects as well.
Ayoub views this challenge as an opportunity to elevate their creative efforts. "I'm never one to shy down from a challenge," he said. "And I think anything that forces us to raise our creative bar, and developers love to have a high bar to go after, and I think we've actually seen the team push some really interesting ideas that they're like, 'Okay, we need to raise our bar. We need to go bigger on this.' And things like that. So, I think that's our hope, right? We would keep raising the bar and everyone just tries to go a little higher."
During the interview, Ayoub also touched on other topics such as *Magic: The Gathering*, the partnership with Saber Interactive, and Hasbro's overall game strategy. Stay tuned for the full interview, which will be available next week.
Every IGN 10 of 2023
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