Baldur’s Gate 3 Crunched its Devs ‘A Little Bit’

Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most feature-filled CRPGs ever made, so finding out that Larian Studios crunched its workers to make that happen isn’t surprising. This doesn’t seem to be a horror story like The Last of Us 2, Cyberpunk 2077, or Mass Effect: Andromeda, but this is still disappointing.

Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian Studios, spoke at the Digital Dragons conference (via GamesRadar) and confirmed that the devs had to “crunch a bit” during development. Vincke was quick to say less crunch was used when compared to previous games and it was rare to see the devs work on a weekend.

"I think, to be honest, you will always have a little bit when you're trying to finish something, especially when there's so much complexity that needs to be brought together," Vincke said.

Crunch culture has been pretty controversial in the past few years, so finding out the Baldur’s Gate 3 devs were crunched is pretty disappointing. While Vincke says it could have been worse, keep in mind that he’s the CEO of this company and doesn’t necessarily speak for the experience of his employees.

There haven't been any horror stories of this game’s development, at least not yet, so we’ll assume most of Larian’s devs weren’t mistreated, unless proven otherwise. If a good number of the devs think crunching was worth it to make this spectacular CRPG, so be it, but that doesn’t make this practice ethical.

At the least, Baldur’s Gate 3 was a huge hit with critics and fans alike, with many claiming this CRPG as their Game of the Year. Larian’s RPG even won Game of the Year during last year’s Game Awards, which many fans didn’t argue over. While this CRPG isn’t for everyone, there’s no doubt that fans are in love with this game and Larian earned that success.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.