{"id":2019057,"date":"2026-06-30T13:09:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2019057"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:09:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:09:35","slug":"i-would-fail-and-heres-why-i-would-fail-why-baldurs-gate-2-co-lead-turned-down-hasbros-request-to-make-baldurs-gate-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2019057","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I would fail, and here&#8217;s why I would fail&#8221; Why Baldur&#8217;s Gate 2 co-lead turned down Hasbro&#8217;s request to make Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;I would fail, and here&#8217;s why I would fail&#8221; Why Baldur&#8217;s Gate 2 co-lead turned down Hasbro&#8217;s request to make Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Where there&#8217;s a Wyll\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/baldurs-gate-3-release-screen-(6).png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Baldur&apos;s Gate 3\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"baldurs-gate-3-release-screen-(6).png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Larian Studios<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/sherif-saed\">Sherif Saed<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Senior Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-06-30T13:09:35+00:00\">June 30, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"fad6185f-86e3-4218-97b5-179f333a9307\" data-name=\"Balduru0027s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Balduru0026#39;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Balduru0026#39;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Balduru0027s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Balduru0027s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Baldur&apos;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\" title=\"Follow Baldur&apos;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition\"><br \/>\n  Follow Baldur&#8217;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-a-critical-success-with-critical-failures\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/a> developer Larian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/larians-next-game-wont-be-a-baldurs-gate-3-sequel-dlc-or-anything-with-dungeons-dragons\">passed on the opportunity to make a sequel<\/a>, brand owner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/hasbro-wants-baldurs-gate-4-but-isnt-in-a-hurry\">Hasbro\/Wizards of the Coast went looking for someone else to do it<\/a>. And, as it turns out, the company already works with some of the leads behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/baldurs-gate\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate<\/a> 2.<\/p>\n<p>James Ohlen and Kevin Martens were the two co-lead designers on that game, and they also happen to be leads at Archetype Entertainment, developer of the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect\">Mass Effect<\/a>-like Exodus, which Wizards of the Coast is publishing. Naturally, the publisher turned to one of them to see about making Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The day [Chris Cox, Hasbro CEO] knew [Larian] weren&#8217;t going to do it, he called me. &#8216;Hey James, what do you think about doing Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4?&#8217; And I was like, &#8216;I don&#8217;t, I would fail, and here&#8217;s why I would fail,'&#8221; James Ohlen told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/rpg\/baldurs-gate-2s-co-lead-designer-was-asked-to-make-baldurs-gate-4-after-larian-declined-having-to-compete-against-baldurs-gate-3-that-would-be-insanity\/\">PC Gamer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gale, Lae&apos;zel, Wyll, and Shadowheart looking over the edge of a cliff ion Baldur&apos;s Gate 3 with a tree to the left and a waterfall in the distance.\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/best-pc-games-to-play-right-now-header-baldurs-gate-3.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Gale, Lae&apos;zel, Wyll, and Shadowheart looking over the edge of a cliff ion Baldur&apos;s Gate 3 with a tree to the left and a waterfall in the distance.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"best-pc-games-to-play-right-now-header-baldurs-gate-3.jpg\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Larian Studios<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The massive success of Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 was both a blessing and a curse for developer Larian. But while everyone expected the studio to make the obvious move and start working on a sequel, the team instead <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/divinity-will-be-a-turn-based-rpg-and-see-larian-unleashed-declares-ceo-swen-vincke-replacing-the-dd-system-with-one-made-for-a-video-game\">decided to move on to something new rather than keep doing the same thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The legacy of what Larian boss Swen Vincke and his team created, however, was enough to scare off anyone willing to follow that up. This is partly what made Ohlen turn it down.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t want to compete against that,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;Doing Exodus is hard enough, but having to compete against Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3? That would be insanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Technology and engine tools were among the other reasons that pushed Ohlen to pass. Replicating that pipeline would&#8217;ve taken &#8220;at least half a decade of horror&#8221;, and Ohlen even asked if they could license the engine from Larian. Even then, it would&#8217;ve been a major challenge.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/baldurs-gate-3-enters-steam-and-stadia-early-access-in-september-1597780215376.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7755344418052257\" width=\"1495\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"baldurs-gate-3-enters-steam-and-stadia-early-access-in-september-1597780215376.jpg\" height=\"842\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7755344418052257\" width=\"1495\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Swen&#8217;s always going to be the master of building those kinds of things,&#8221; Ohlen added. &#8220;It&#8217;s really hard to take him off that throne, just because of everything &#8211; the tools, institutional knowledge, team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So who would actually be up to the task? According to the veteran designer, it has to be a team unburdened by that baggage, willing to do their own take. &#8220;That was me back in Baldur&#8217;s Gate. I was like &#8216;Everyone else sucks and we&#8217;re going to crush it.&#8217; It was us against all the other game studios, we&#8217;re going to outdo them,&#8221; he recalled.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And because none of us had built games before, we were all like, &#8216;We&#8217;re going to do everything different.&#8217; And sometimes you need that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We recently got treated to an extended demo of Exodus, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/aexodus-mass-effect-morality-system\">offered a deeper look at gameplay, and early details of the sci-fi adventure&#8217;s morality system<\/a>. Fittingly, many on the team are former BioWare developers who are attempting to do something fresh with the classic Mass Effect formula.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/baldurs-gate-3-a-critical-success-with-critical-failures\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/a> developer Larian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/larians-next-game-wont-be-a-baldurs-gate-3-sequel-dlc-or-anything-with-dungeons-dragons\">passed on the opportunity to make a sequel<\/a>, brand owner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/hasbro-wants-baldurs-gate-4-but-isnt-in-a-hurry\">Hasbro\/Wizards of the Coast went looking for someone else to do it<\/a>. And, as it turns out, the company already works with some of the leads behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/baldurs-gate\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate<\/a> 2.<\/p>\n<p>James Ohlen and Kevin Martens were the two co-lead designers on that game, and they also happen to be leads at Archetype Entertainment, developer of the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect\">Mass Effect<\/a>-like Exodus, which Wizards of the Coast is publishing. Naturally, the publisher turned to one of them to see about making Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The day [Chris Cox, Hasbro CEO] knew [Larian] weren&#8217;t going to do it, he called me. &#8216;Hey James, what do you think about doing Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4?&#8217; And I was like, &#8216;I don&#8217;t, I would fail, and here&#8217;s why I would fail,'&#8221; James Ohlen told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/rpg\/baldurs-gate-2s-co-lead-designer-was-asked-to-make-baldurs-gate-4-after-larian-declined-having-to-compete-against-baldurs-gate-3-that-would-be-insanity\/\">PC Gamer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gale, Lae&apos;zel, Wyll, and Shadowheart looking over the edge of a cliff ion Baldur&apos;s Gate 3 with a tree to the left and a waterfall in the distance.\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/best-pc-games-to-play-right-now-header-baldurs-gate-3.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Gale, Lae&apos;zel, Wyll, and Shadowheart looking over the edge of a cliff ion Baldur&apos;s Gate 3 with a tree to the left and a waterfall in the distance.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"best-pc-games-to-play-right-now-header-baldurs-gate-3.jpg\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Larian Studios<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The massive success of Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 was both a blessing and a curse for developer Larian. But while everyone expected the studio to make the obvious move and start working on a sequel, the team instead <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/divinity-will-be-a-turn-based-rpg-and-see-larian-unleashed-declares-ceo-swen-vincke-replacing-the-dd-system-with-one-made-for-a-video-game\">decided to move on to something new rather than keep doing the same thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The legacy of what Larian boss Swen Vincke and his team created, however, was enough to scare off anyone willing to follow that up. This is partly what made Ohlen turn it down.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t want to compete against that,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;Doing Exodus is hard enough, but having to compete against Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3? That would be insanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Technology and engine tools were among the other reasons that pushed Ohlen to pass. Replicating that pipeline would&#8217;ve taken &#8220;at least half a decade of horror&#8221;, and Ohlen even asked if they could license the engine from Larian. Even then, it would&#8217;ve been a major challenge.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/baldurs-gate-3-enters-steam-and-stadia-early-access-in-september-1597780215376.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7755344418052257\" width=\"1495\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"baldurs-gate-3-enters-steam-and-stadia-early-access-in-september-1597780215376.jpg\" height=\"842\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7755344418052257\" width=\"1495\"><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Swen&#8217;s always going to be the master of building those kinds of things,&#8221; Ohlen added. &#8220;It&#8217;s really hard to take him off that throne, just because of everything &#8211; the tools, institutional knowledge, team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So who would actually be up to the task? According to the veteran designer, it has to be a team unburdened by that baggage, willing to do their own take. &#8220;That was me back in Baldur&#8217;s Gate. I was like &#8216;Everyone else sucks and we&#8217;re going to crush it.&#8217; It was us against all the other game studios, we&#8217;re going to outdo them,&#8221; he recalled.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And because none of us had built games before, we were all like, &#8216;We&#8217;re going to do everything different.&#8217; And sometimes you need that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We recently got treated to an extended demo of Exodus, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/aexodus-mass-effect-morality-system\">offered a deeper look at gameplay, and early details of the sci-fi adventure&#8217;s morality system<\/a>. Fittingly, many on the team are former BioWare developers who are attempting to do something fresh with the classic Mass Effect formula.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News &#8220;I would fail, and here&#8217;s why I would fail&#8221; Why Baldur&#8217;s Gate 2 co-lead turned down Hasbro&#8217;s request to make Baldur&#8217;s Gate 4 Where there&#8217;s a Wyll\u2026 Image credit: Larian Studios News by Sherif Saed Senior Contributor Published on June 30, 2026 Follow Baldur&#8217;s Gate II: Enhanced Edition After Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 developer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2019057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2019057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2019057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2019057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2019057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}