After the acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3, the Larian Studios team began developing a new game in the Divinity franchise. However, Hasbro, which owns the rights to BG, would like to make the next installment.
In a recent interview, James Ohlen, who led the development of Baldur's Gate 2, revealed that he was approached with an offer to make Baldur's Gate 4. According to the developer, he was personally contacted by the CEO of Hasbro:
The day [Chris Cocks, Hasbro CEO] realized that [Larian Studios] wasn't going to do it, he called me: "Listen, James, what do you think about Baldur's Gate 4?" And I was like, "I don't want to — I'll fail, and here's why."
James Ohlen explained that Larian Studios was, in essence, the perfect team to create Baldur's Gate 3 — they had all the tools and the right personnel for it:
"I wouldn't want to compete [with Larian]. Making Exodus is hard enough, but competing with Baldur's Gate 3? That would be insane."
Baldur's Gate 3 was built on Larian's own engine, so Ohlen would have to start from scratch: "We're talking at least five years of torment — doing all of this from scratch." Even if Larian's engine were licensed, it would take a long time to figure everything out:
Sven [Vincke] will always be the master at creating such things. It's very difficult to knock him off that throne because of everything he has — the tools, the accumulated experience, the team.