Baldur's Gate 3's launch out of early access is just around the corner and it's going to be an absolute behemoth of a game. With entire TV shows worth of cinematics, over 17,000 ending variations, and a bunch of other impress statistics, many developers have begun to worry in the build up to Baldur's Gate 3's release that it might become the golden standard of RPGs and next to impossible for even studios with big budgets to match.
However, that's something that Larian co-founder and Baldur's Gate 3 creative director Swen Vincke thinks other developers shouldn't be worrying about, as he believes there is no gold standard for RPGs in the games industry since people are always creating new and interesting projects. In the latest episode of the Friends Per Second podcast (thanks PCGamesN), Vincke states that games like Baldur's Gate 3 are "very specific" and that devs coming up with something new shouldn't hold themselves up to the same standards.
"When it comes to standards, standards change continuously, so I don’t think that is something people should be worried about," says Vincke. "When it comes to resources if you talk about the likes of Microsoft or Activision Blizzard, they are large companies that have resources and can do whatever they want."
"Games like ours are very specific, it’s what we wanted to make and what we specialize in so it’s logical that we have a certain pedigree in creating it. Because we’ve been building these games for 20 years already. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a game that says ‘Oh this is the standard, and everyone has to hold themselves to it,’ because tomorrow somebody else will come up with something new and cool."
Vincke is right in that it feels a little silly for Baldur's Gate 3 to potentially be held up as a gold standard for RPGs when the genre is so versatile and already has a number of different experiences for a variety of players. Baldur's Gate 3, Bloodborne, and Pokemon can all be classified as RPGs, but each one appeals to vastly different audiences.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Vincke also talks about the Xbox Series S and if he believes it's holding the current generation back, likely due to its role in delaying the Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3. He doesn't believe this is the case either though, claiming developing for the Xbox Series S is similar to developing for the Nintendo Switch and low end PCs, explaining that it just "defines certain parameters within which you have to develop."