Oster, who worked on the first installments of the series, tried to attract investors to create Baldur's Gate 3 after leaving BioWare. However, Beamdog's project did not receive funding for a long time.
According to him, potential partners believed that single-player RPGs would not achieve high sales. They were also concerned that the brand rights belonged to Wizards of the Coast, which made investments seem too risky.
Interestingly, Beamdog's version was very different from what Larian Studios eventually created. Oster noted that his team planned a much more modest project with a budget of about $20 million. Larian's final game cost significantly more and became one of the most ambitious RPGs in the genre.
David Gaider was also involved in the development, but even that didn't help convince investors. In the end, Beamdog focused on remastering the first games in the series.
According to Oster, the success of Baldur's Gate 3 did not solve all the genre's problems. Now, publishers believe in RPGs but demand huge budgets, full voice acting, motion capture, romance options, and cinematic presentation.
Paradoxically, the problem remains — just in a different form. Publishers used to not believe in the potential of single-player RPGs. Today, they expect every game to be the next Baldur's Gate 3.