With how many stories of studio shutdowns there have been this year, like what happened to Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, it’s refreshing to hear of a new studio opening and creating job opportunities. In this case, it’s Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios, which is expanding into Warsaw, Poland.
Larian Studios’ official Twitter account made the announcement on May 20, revealing the new division will simply be called Larian Warsaw and be based in “the heart of Poland’s lively gaming scene.” This makes it the seventh studio Larian has opened. Aside from its headquarters in Belgium, Larian has studios in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Spain, and Malaysia.
Larian has “two very ambitious RPGs” in development right now, so it’s decided it’ll need extra hands to work on them. The official website already has a handful of job openings at the Warsaw studio, where Larian says it is “dedicated to fostering an environment where developers can thrive creatively and reclaim their agency. Systems-heavy RPGs need best-in-class developers, that’s why we’ve put the people who build those systems at the center of our culture.”
No doubt the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 helped with Larian’s expansion, and yet the studio’s opted to not follow it up with a Baldur’s Gate 4. I imagine Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro will want a sequel regardless, but another studio will have to handle it. As for what Larian is working on, it hasn’t shared anything on its next projects, only suggesting that it won’t be returning to its Divinity: Original Sin series either. Whatever these RPGs are, there’s little reason to assume they won’t at least be fun to play, and having a seventh studio to help will ideally allow Larian to make them even better.
