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This is not something that comes as a surprise to us Divinity 2 players, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the reality: many development studios should learn from Baldur’s Gate 3. More specifically, of the way in which Larian Studios, the team responsible for both games, treats its community. And although the game has been a resounding success and today it is difficult to find many drawbacks, they continue to update it with tremendous love and passion.
So much so that they are preparing a patch (number six if we leave them and other minor updates out of the equation) so big that they even recommend uninstalling the game to install it again when the patch is operational. That is option A. The other one they offer us is to free up at least 150 GB of space on our hard drive so that there are no problems during its installation. The best of all is that this patch will not only be released on PC, but will arrive simultaneously on PlayStation, Xbox and, indeed, our computers. It will weigh 21 GB and wants to improve many things.
Larian Studios and Baldur’s Gate 3 are an example to follow
However, the news is not in the patch as such. Our colleagues at 3djuegos.com have already told us about some of its main features, such as lImprovements to romance sequences, easier switching between party characters, and/or resolution of certain bugs. No. The news is that months later, after fixing its most serious errors, Larian Studios is still actively working on improving its magnum opus.
And it may seem silly, but this is not so common. Yes, we are used to service games releasing patches from time to time, but it is not the same, because their way of monetizing is different. Likewise, other big projects have done the same on several occasions, but it doesn’t feel the same way either. In general terms, the latter are limited to solving certain errors and/or better minor aspects.
Larian Studios does that and much more, since it adds content and mechanics that we have not seen, enhances the functioning of certain scenes, etc. And although we cannot say that it feels like a completely new game, each patch invites us to explore its universe almost completely again to see what new surprises we can find. His is a herculean and very remarkable work.
A studio that knows how to treat its players well
It is for this very reason that I think that many studios should learn from Larian Studios and Baldur’s Gate 3. Of course, I understand that not everyone has the resources to act this way, but there are many others who do. Unfortunately, this is not usually possible, since most developers live in a long-distance race where they never stop working. I will not name names, as I do not want to personalize these comments in any specific study, but I am sure that you will all find examples.
Ultimately, the vast majority of creative teams release a game, release several patches over a couple of months, and start working on a new project. Yes, I am summarizing and generalizing a lot, because I understand and know that this is not exactly the case, but it is to give you a general idea of why I have been so happy (for years) with Larian Studios. They, unlike what we usually see, they keep going for a long time by releasing gigantic patches until making sure everything is perfect.
And anyone who thinks it’s because Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a success should take a look at Divinity 2. Yes, it was pretty good, but it’s not even close to the sales of BG3. Despite this, for years they gave it a lot of love and affection to make sure it was the role-playing game they wanted to give us. History is repeating itself, so it is not a matter of one or two days, but rather an exercise of years in which they have shown that a game can continue to be improved beyond resolving errors.
As? Well, listening to your community. This is something we see quite regularly when adding elements, such as the mirror that allows us to change our appearance, just because people ask it to. So yes, I think others should learn from Larian Studios. This way we would all be happier, although I highly doubt that the industry will evolve this way.
