It's been a year and a half since the release of *Baldur's Gate 3*, and fans are still diving into multiple playthroughs, exploring every nook and cranny of its expansive world. However, with developer Larian Studios stepping away from the franchise, the future of *Baldur's Gate* now rests in the hands of Hasbro. Fortunately, it seems we won't have to wait long to hear about what's next for this beloved series.

During an interview with IGN at the Game Developers Conference, Dan Ayoub, Hasbro's SVP of digital games, revealed that there is significant interest in *Baldur's Gate* from various parties. "We're kind of working out our plans for the future and what we're going to be doing with that," Ayoub stated. "And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that."

While Ayoub didn't specify whether this "stuff" refers to a new *Baldur's Gate* game or something like a crossover event similar to the *Magic: The Gathering* collaboration, he did express his desire for a *Baldur's Gate 4*. However, he emphasized that creating such a game would be a time-consuming process. "It's somewhat of an unenviable position," he admitted. "I mean, we're not in a hurry. Right? That's the thing, we're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it."

Ayoub also acknowledged the immense pressure to ensure the next *Baldur's Gate* installment meets the high expectations set by its predecessors. This pressure, he noted, extends to other Dungeons & Dragons-related projects, including a game announced by Hasbro last year. "I'm never one to shy down from a challenge," he said. "And I think anything that forces us to raise our creative bar, and developers love to have a high bar to go after, and I think we've actually seen the team push some really interesting ideas that they're like, 'Okay, we need to raise our bar. We need to go bigger on this.'"

In addition to discussing *Baldur's Gate*, Ayoub touched on other topics such as *Magic: The Gathering*, Hasbro's partnership with Saber Interactive, and their overall game strategy. A full interview with Ayoub will be available next week, providing more insights into Hasbro's plans.

Every IGN 10 of 2023

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