Baldur's Gate 3, co-created by Ghent-based video game developer Larian Studios and released on Thursday, is currently the best-selling computer game of the moment.
Just one day after going on sale, the video game has already topped the list of best-selling games on the distribution platform Steam, one of the most popular platforms worldwide to buy and download games.
The game is the third installation of a series based on the fantasy world of the Dungeons and Dragons board game.
Ghent-based developers have been making games since 1996, but first achieved mass appeal with the game Divinity: Original Sin (2014). The success of its sequel, Divinity: Original Sin 2 (2017) convinced Wizards of the Coast, an American role-playing game (RPG) company focussing on fantasy and science fiction themes, to hire Larian Studios to work on Baldur's Gate 3.
The achievement is not to be underestimated, as several high-profile developers have been pursuing the rights to Baldur's Gate IPs for over a decade.
Tester for hardcore fans
The developers' reverence for the franchise proves just how important Baldur's Gate is to video game history. The original Baldur's Gate (1997) is considered the game that single-handedly saved the computer role-playing genre, while its sequel, Baldur's Gate 2 (2000), is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made.
The release of the old-school role-playing game was one of the most anticipated of this year and is already on track to become the company's biggest hit yet. As the anticipation for the game was so great, Larian decided to involve gamers in the development process.
Baldur's Gate 3 was released in 2020 as an Early Access version: the most hardcore fans were able to buy and play the game before it was finished and send their thoughts to the developers, which Larian then used to improve the game. So many people flocked to the digital storefront Steam on launch day in 2020 that the store experienced technical problems.
This strategy worked for Divinity: Original Sin and seems to have worked again for Baldur's Gate 3. Early impressions seem to confirm that Larian has managed to bring Baldur's Gate into the modern era and create one of the best RPGs of the last decade.
