By Joseph Leon
One game steeped in controversy right now is Baldur’s Gate 3, the recently released open world RPG, for the unbearable sin of being too good. Praised for its scope, creative gameplay, and dynamic storytelling reminiscent of TTRPG Dungeons and Dragons. Fans of the game have been giving rave reviews with “Finished” being a common descriptor, to the dismay of competing AAA game studios.
There has been a trend of AAA development studios in recent years, where less and less games are being made, avoiding investment in new IPs and untread ground. More games are being released in an unpolished state and more effort goes into their direct monetization than the overall quality of the game. Baldur’s Gate 3’s overwhelming success breaks a standard set by the industry.
Xalavier Nelson Jr. head of Strange Scaffolding (the studio behind El Paso Nightmare), An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator(these are real I checked), and more tweeted, “Like a lot of people, I'm deeply excited about what the lovely folks at Larian accomplished with Baldur's Gate 3, but I want to gently, preemptively push back against players taking that excitement and using it to apply criticism or a ‘raised standard’ to RPGs going forward”. https://twitter.com/WritNelson/status/1677632079792668673
To sum up the thread Mr. Nelson argues that BG3 is an anomaly, and was only successful because of its skilled development team, their experience, their successful early access phase, their large resources and number of employees, as well as the big brand it's tied to, D&D. The thing I disagree with is that his sentiment assumes other AAA development studios that have been around for longer and have more influence, bigger teams, and more resources, can’t do what Larian Studios did. Using its long development cycle wisely, they thoroughly play tested with the full intention of creating a good experience and not meeting an arbitrary quarterly margin.
Of course not every game can reach BG3’s level, not every game should try to. But when AAA game studios look at BG3’s success and call it unrealistic they are begging you as a consumer not to hold them to that level of quality. They don’t want you to demand that a product be finished before you pay for it, because that's how they have made their money over the past few years and Baldur’s Gate 3 threatens this business model.