One of the people most qualified to make Baldur's Gate 4 was asked to do exactly that, and he turned it down flat. James Ohlen, co-lead designer on the legendary Baldur's Gate 2, says Hasbro's boss called him personally to pitch the sequel, and his answer was a firm no.
The story broke on June 30th via an interview with PC Gamer. Ohlen recalls Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks reaching out after Larian, the studio behind the smash hit Baldur's Gate 3, declined to make a fourth game, asking him point-blank what he thought about taking it on.
His reply, in his own words: "I don't. I would fail, and here's why I would fail."
"That Would Be Insanity"
Ohlen didn't mince words about the mountain involved. "Doing Exodus is hard enough, but having to compete against Baldur's Gate 3? That would be insanity," he said, referencing the sci-fi RPG Exodus he'd been working on at Archetype Entertainment.
His reasoning was practical. He pointed to the sheer cost of building an engine and tools from scratch, calling it "at least half a decade of horror," and per VGC he even asked Cocks whether Larian would be willing to license out its engine to make the job feasible.
Worth a quick caveat: this is Ohlen's own recollection of the conversation. It's a first-hand account, but it's his account, so treat the exact framing as one side of the story.
For those that don't know, the pedigree here is no joke. The original Baldur's Gate arrived from BioWare in 1998, with Baldur's Gate 2 following in 2000, and the pair basically defined the computer RPG for a generation by bringing Dungeons & Dragons to the PC. Ohlen was a lead designer on both.
Then Larian did the impossible in 2023. Baldur's Gate 3 landed after years in early access, swept Game of the Year awards, and sold gangbusters, turning a revered-but-niche series into a mainstream phenomenon. Larian has since said it's moving on to its own original projects rather than a sequel, which is what left the door open for Hasbro to go shopping in the first place.
What This Tells Us About Baldur's Gate 4
The bigger takeaway lands hard. It confirms two things fans have suspected: Larian truly is done with the series, and Hasbro is actively shopping Baldur's Gate 4 around to outside studios.
And the most telling part is who's saying no. When a designer with Baldur's Gate 2 on his resume looks at following Baldur's Gate 3 and calls it a losing battle, it shows just how high Larian set the bar. Ohlen has since stepped away from game development entirely, citing burnout.
It's a fascinating crossover of the video game and tabletop worlds, since this is ultimately Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast deciding the future of their biggest D&D-based franchise. If you're into that side of things, we've been covering plenty of it, from D&D's new villainous subclasses to Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
Hasbro has been loud about wanting to do more with D&D in the digital space, and after Baldur's Gate 3 proved how big a great D&D game can get, that license is hotter than it has ever been. The catch is the one Ohlen just laid out: the bar is now so high that even veterans are wary of clearing it. Finding a studio with the skill AND the nerve to try is the real challenge facing Hasbro now.
If a Baldur's Gate 2 veteran thinks following up Baldur's Gate 3 is a fool's errand, who should actually make Baldur's Gate 4? Share who you'd trust the game with in the comments!
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