Larian “murdered” Divinity: Dragon Commander to focus on Original Sin

Divinity: Original Sin developer Larian talked very candidly about the business side of development and the many unfortunate events that took place for the game to come out as it did.

Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke gave a post-mortem on the troubled development of Divinity: Original Sin, and how it managed to overcome all of it and release - by most accounts - an excellent game.

PCGamer attended the event and reports that Larian had to accept investor funding, borrow money, and raise close to $1 million on Kickstarter in order to finish the game.

Not only that, but part of the reason why Divinity: Dragon Commander, Larian's previous game, was poorly-received is partly due to needing money to finish Original Sin.

When Larian started working on Dragon Commander and Original Sin, the former was envisioned as the bigger project. Over time however, Larian "fell in love" with Original Sin and wanted to release it as complete as possible. The developer decided to "murder" Dragon Commander to get more funds for Original Sin and have a better focus on it.

The studio was desperate, according to Vincke, delaying tax payments and spending money it doesn't have on voice-acting to continue working on Original Sin.

Vincke added that had Original Sin not been a critical and financial success, it would've brought the end of Larian.