Baldur's Gate 3 Isn't on Epic Games Store Yet, But That's Not Necessarily Indicative of Launch Plans [Updated With Clarification]
Larian is set on keeping things open to as many players as possible.
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
Update: A Larian representative reached out to USG to clarify that Vincke was "only talking about the store pages that will go up" when Baldur's Gate 3 is announced. It is not necessarily indicative of whether or not it will also be launching on Epic Games Store. The original story follows below.
Larian Studios is in the driver's seat with Baldur's Gate 3, steering the future of a much-beloved role-playing game series from the heyday of Dungeons & Dragons video games. And while the studio plans to bring their take on Baldur's Gate to many storefronts, there's one in particular it won't be launching on: Epic.
"You will see Steam pages pop up, you will see GOG pages pop up, but no Epic pages will pop up," says Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios. "I don't see why not; I don't believe in exclusives, I prefer to be everywhere."
Vincke's decision is driven by the desire to get players playing their games on all the platforms they can. Larian Studios' previous games, like the Divinity: Original Sin series, have made the jump to consoles quite well.
"Everything we've done in the past has been about adapting to the divide that you're playing on, because the device shouldn't matter when it comes to playing our games," says Vincke. "That's the only way they're going to spread, so I really don't want to locked down to one platform or another."
Of course, while Vincke says he'd like Baldur's Gate 3 to be "everywhere," it would take time and money to make that happen, and it "has to make sense" as well. But Larian seems intent on avoiding a situation where prospective players only have one option to play the upcoming sequel.
Baldur's Gate 3 is still on the way, but if you're hungry for some classic role-playing game action in the nearer future, there is some good news. Enhanced editions of the first two Baldur's Gate games, as well as some other D&D era gems, are coming to Switch later this year.
In the meantime, we talked to Larian founder Swen Vincke and Dungeons & Dragon's creative director Mike Mearls about their vision for Baldur's Gate 3. Expect it in 2020 at the earliest.