Larian Studios

Larian Studios is a developer and publisher.

Larian Studios Webpage, Facebook

Larian Studios is an independent Belgian video game developer and publisher founded in 1996, that today stands as one of the oldest and largest development studios in the country. The company’s headquarters is in Ghent, with additional branches in Quebec, Dublin, Barcelona, Guildford, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw. Larian Studios has been led by its founder, Swen Vincke, ever since it was established. Since 2011, when the indie games market began to grow rapidly, Larian Studios has also taken on the role of publisher, releasing its own titles independently.

Larian Studios operates on two main levels. The Belgian studio is also known for developing a number of educational games which, although targeting a relatively niche audience, helped the company stay afloat during tougher times. However, Larian Studios is best known to players for its long-running Divinity role-playing game series, which has been in development since 2002.

The common thread running through the entire series is its unique high fantasy universe. However, over time, both the style and setting of later titles have evolved. With the exception of the strategic spin-off Divinity: Dragon Commander, the series has shifted from a classic isometric cRPG (Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity), through a third-person action RPG (Divinity II: Ego Draconis), to the Divinity: Original Sin sub-series - a return to its roots with an isometric view, this time in a modern 3D environment.

The history of Larian Studios

Prehistory

Larian Studios was founded in 1996 by Belgian developer Swen Vincke, and its name comes from his dog Pilar - “Lar” being a shortened form of her name. The studio’s first project was an isometric RPG titled The Lady, The Mage and The Knight, based on the popular The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) system. At first, the studio struggled significantly to secure a publisher for the game. When Infogrames eventually showed interest in the project, licensing issues and a failed collaboration with the German studio Attic Entertainment forced Larian to halt development at a relatively early stage. As a result, Larian Studios’ debut title was a tactical RTS called The L.E.D Wars, developed in just five months and published by Ionos, Inc.

Divine Divinity

Under these circumstances, Larian Studios chose to move away from The Dark Eye universe and develop its own original world to serve as the setting for their upcoming RPG. These efforts culminated in the release of Divine Divinity (originally titled Divinity: Sword of Lies) in 2002, published by cdv Software Entertainment. Following its very positive reception among players, the game received a standalone expansion two years later: Beyond Divinity, published by Digital Jesters. Interestingly, one of the collected editions of both games featured a fantasy short story by renowned game writer and screenwriter Rhianna Pratchett as a special bonus for players.

In the same year, Larian Studios ventured into educational games, producing titles like KetnetKick and KetnetKick 2 in collaboration with a Belgian children’s TV channel, as well as a virtual network platform called Adventure Rock (also known as CBBC World). The Divinity series made its comeback in 2009 with Divinity II: Ego Draconis, which, unlike the earlier titles, was developed as a third-person action RPG. It was also Larian Studios’ first game to be released on consoles. It later received the Flames of Vengeance expansion and a comprehensive edition titled Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. Between 2009 and 2011, Larian Studios released more educational games, including Monkey Labs and the Monkey Tales series.

Original Sin and Baldur's Gate

In 2013, Divinity: Dragon Commander was released, set in the Divinity universe and blending elements of action, strategy, and RPG. In 2014, with the support of Kickstarter backers, Larian Studios released the next installment of its flagship series, Divinity: Original Sin, which later appeared in a refined edition on eighth-generation consoles. The game, which marked a return to the classic isometric perspective, launched a new sub-series. Its sequel, Divinity: Original Sin II, released in 2017, cemented Larian Studios’ reputation as a leading developer of modern RPGs.

In March 2019, Larian Studios announced a spin-off of the sub-series, Divinity: Fallen Heroes. Divinity: Fallen Heroes is a tactical RPG developed through a collaboration between Larian Studios and the Logic Artists team. Shortly afterward, it became clear that this wasn’t the only project Larian Studios had in the works. In June, Larian Studios announced a partnership with Wizards of the Coast, securing the rights to develop Baldur's Gate III. The game was designed both to honor the legacy of the earlier Baldur’s Gate titles and to bring a fresh perspective, while also standing as Larian Studios’ largest project to date. The game was announced for release on PC as well as Google’s Stadia streaming platform. In October 2019, Larian Studios announced that development on Divinity: Fallen Heroes had been put on hold. Baldur's Gate III became the top priority for Larian Studios, while the Logic Artists team shifted focus to developing their own projects.

Although the developers were initially tight-lipped about the gameplay of the third Baldur's Gate, in February 2020 Swen Vincke and his team finally revealed the first gameplay footage to the world. In March, it was revealed that the project was being developed in collaboration with the Polish Anshar Studios, and by June, the early access release date was announced. As it turned out - not for the first time - the Early Access release on Steam was first postponed from August to September 30, and then again to October 6. On that day, an early version of Baldur's Gate III finally reached players and was an instant success - SteamSpy’s unofficial estimates suggested it sold over a million copies in just over a week.

The full version of Baldur's Gate 3 was released on PC on August 3, 2023. The game was a massive success, setting new activity records on Steam and earning outstanding reviews across the board. The game received an impressive 96% positive reviews on Steam, while industry critics mirrored that acclaim with an average score of 96/100 on Metacritic. Our reviewer awarded the game a perfect 10/10, marking the seventh time in gamepressure’s history that a title has received such a score.

The title was also announced for a console release. The PlayStation 5 version was scheduled to launch on September 6, 2023. Although the game was initially set to skip Xbox Series X/S due to performance limitations on the cheaper console, the developers and Microsoft eventually reached a compromise: it would release on Xbox in 2023, but the Series S version would not support split-screen play. However, the developers didn’t rule out the possibility of adding split-screen functionality to the Series S version in a future update. At the same time, the team continued developing additional patches to further improve the PC version of Baldur's Gate 3.

On December 8, 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 took home several honors at The Game Awards, including the top prize: Game of the Year. On that same day, Baldur's Gate 3 also launched on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles.

The world after Baldur's Gate 3

In February 2024, unofficial reports surfaced that Larian Studios was planning to open a new branch in Poland. The plans were officially confirmed a month later, in March 2024. At that time, however, it wasn’t clear what projects the Warsaw-based team would be tackling.

Meanwhile, the studio tempered fans’ expectations, clarifying that the Warsaw branch wouldn’t be working on Baldur’s Gate 4. The team, led by Swen Vincke, made it clear that they had no plans to create another Baldur’s Gate game or even produce DLC for the third installment. Instead, the team planned to focus entirely on developing a brand-new project. Baldur's Gate 4 could still be made, but its development was planned to be handed over to a different studio.

Additionally, at the end of March 2024, after nearly a decade of collaboration with Larian Studios, screenwriter Stephen Rooney departed from the team. Fans had to wait until September 2024 to hear the first updates on the studio's new projects. In September 2024, Swen Vincke revealed that his team was working on two RPGs. While both were ambitious, one was intended to stand apart from their previous work in terms of tone, style, and execution. Interestingly, one of these mysterious projects was meant to “pull” the team away from the other one, largely because of its ambitious scope and an earlier planned release date.

In the meantime, it emerged that while Larian Studios wasn’t developing new content for Baldur's Gate 3, it was continuously refining and improving its magnum opus. At the end of January 2025, it was revealed that the team had overcome the technical limitations of the Xbox Series S, finally enabling split-screen play on that console as well.