Larian Studios’ Swen Vincke recently spoke about the issue of crunch culture at the studio, admitting that there were instances where the team had to work overtime to meet deadlines due to unforeseen circumstances.
During a Q&A session at the Digital Dragons conference in Poland, Vincke responded to a question about crunch by acknowledging that while the team was not “overly” required to crunch for the development of Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3), there were still moments where it was necessary. He stated, “It would be a lie to say that we didn’t” crunch at all, but emphasized that it was less than in previous projects.
Vincke clarified that employees who worked late were compensated for their overtime, a practice not commonly followed by many studios. He also mentioned that working weekends or past 8pm was a rare occurrence at Larian Studios.
Despite the challenges faced during the development of BG3, Larian Studios recently announced a delay in the release of the physical PS5 North America deluxe editions to July 2024. Furthermore, the studio confirmed that their next project will not be Baldur’s Gate 4, DLC, or related to Dungeons and Dragons, hinting at new games in the pipeline.