In one of his final interviews before Larian moves on to new projects, Baldur’s Gate 3 director and company CEO Swen Vincke says the team didn’t “overly crunch,” but that it would be a lie to say “we didn’t” at all. With two new mystery games on the way Vincke and the team are starting to look at what’s next for Larian, but not before an appearance at the Digital Dragons conference.
Vincke attended Digital Dragons to give a talk on the development of Baldur’s Gate 3, with a question and answer session coming at the end. One attendee asked Vincke if there was any crunch while Larian worked on the RPG, to which he says the following.
“Certainly less on Baldur’s Gate 3 than we did in the past. It would be a lie to say that we didn’t. We had things happen that we didn’t foresee,” Vincke says (via GamesRadar). “We didn’t overly crunch, but we did have to do a bit of crunch. And I think, to be honest, you will always have a little bit when you’re trying to finish something, especially when there’s so much complexity that needs to be brought together.”
Vincke adds during the session that paid overtime was offered to employees in these situations, and that offices were mostly empty after 8pm with employees working “very, very, very rarely at weekends.”
Crunch has been an ongoing discussion point in the games industry for years now, as teams come together to meet deadlines and finish work right up to the last minute. It can range from occasional compulsory overtime to weeks, if not months, of extended work hours.
CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński said crunch is “not that bad” to investors in 2020 before immediately apologizing, and The Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield said the team was working six to seven days a week, but that “nobody’s forcing us” to do so.
If you’re diving back into BG3 now that Larian is moving on to two new projects, we’ve got all the best Baldur’s Gate 3 mods to spice up your next playthrough, alongside ideal Baldur’s Gate 3 builds depending on how you want to play.
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