Baldur’s Gate 3 is considered one of the top games of this generation, and its success has inspired many developers. According to The Gamer, at Gamescom 2023, numerous large and small developers are seriously considering adopting Larian Studios’ development model for their future projects. This model involves a lengthy early access period and active communication with the community.
Torsten Roepke from Keen Games, who is developing the cooperative survival game with an open world called Enshrouded, stated that Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a model for him to follow. He believes in spending a significant amount of time in early access and listening to player feedback before releasing version 1.0. Employees at Lavapotion, who successfully released Songs of Conquest in early access, also emphasized the importance of community opinion in game development. They believe that early access on Steam is a valuable way to understand what the most dedicated players want and to make necessary balance changes that cater to regular players as well.
One of the most challenging aspects of the balancing process between quality, polishing, and the final release date is often the pressure from publishers to set clear deadlines. Larian, being a studio with more resources than the average small to medium indie studio, self-published Baldur’s Gate 3. Keen Games also does not have a publisher, which gave them enough time and freedom to continue developing the game during a lengthy early access period. According to Roepke, the end of early access does not mean that the game will no longer receive updates, but rather indicates that it has reached a level that satisfies the developers.
Even employees at Amazon Games, who have enormous resources, briefly mentioned Baldur’s Gate 3. Merv Lee Kwai stated that Larian’s success is something they are keeping an eye on. Although it didn’t directly influence the development of Throne And Liberty, it made them understand that players are willing to wait for quality and polishing. Additionally, it made developers more cautious about not announcing too much too early in the future.
It is highly likely that Baldur’s Gate 3 will have a significant impact on the industry, particularly in terms of game releases. While other successful early access games have existed for many years, such as Project Zomboid, Rust, Fortnite, and Subnautica, the tremendous success of BG3 indicates that it may be the most optimal way to win over a player audience, even for Triple-A level studios. Instead of following the traditional principle of “here’s the release date, then we’ll fix it,” we may see more studios choosing a longer early access and pre-release testing period before the game reaches the masses.
This sentiment has been growing in the industry for several years, especially after the not-so-successful release of Cyberpunk 2077 and Fallout 76. It is already known that the scale of quality assurance for Starfield will surpass anything Bethesda has done before, and the game has fewer errors compared to previous projects from Bethesda and other major publishers. In the future, we may witness a shift towards early access testing as the best way to engage with players.
The developers of Songs Of Conquest noted that finding a balance between what the most dedicated players want and their own vision of the game and its casual appeal is not always easy. However, the result is usually the same: a community of players who feel that their voice has been heard. Based on what was said at Gamescom, many developers, both big and small, will be looking to Larian’s model when creating their future projects.
Post from www.playground.ru
