James Ohlen was one of the founding fathers of Baldur’s Gate, and Wizards of the Coast wanted to entrust Baldur’s Gate 4 to him and his team. He flatly refused.
It’s no secret that D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast wants to capitalize on the sensational success ofBaldur’s Gate 3. However, there’s a problem. The development studio Larian has decided against a sequel. Instead, Swen Vincke’s studio is currently working onDivinity.
Now Wizards of the Coast faces the unenviable challenge of finding a replacement, and that’s likely to be extremely difficult. After all, the reason for Baldur’s Gate 3’s absurdly high quality had a lot to do with Larian.
It is not yet known who will develop Baldur’s Gate 4.According to PC Gamer, however, Wizards of the Coast has already approached some studiosand, naturally, has looked close to home. Specifically, they’ve approached Archetype Entertainment, which is currently developingExodusand is owned by Wizards of the Coast.
The studio was founded by none other than James Ohlen, one of the lead developers behind the original Baldur’s Gate games from Bioware.
A Pioneer of the Series Steps Down
It sounds like the most sensible idea ever! If Wizards of the Coast is looking for a new studio, why not simply go with the one that one of the founding fathers of Baldur’s Gate is involved in? According to Ohlen, he received a call from Publishing Head Chris Cox on the very day they learned that Larian was stepping away from Baldur’s Gate 4.
But Ohlen seemed pretty certain right away that he couldn’t—and didn’t want to—take on the project under any circumstances. According to Ohlen, he told Cox that he would “fail” at Baldur’s Gate 4. There are two main reasons for this:
1. The engine
The fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 was possible in its current form is also due to the fact that Larian had already laid a technical foundation with Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 before BG3—a foundation capable of handling such a project. This process took years. Ohlen would have to start from scratch and have his team build a framework that could compete with Larian’s. Ohlen calls this a “decade of horror” in which they would try to copy Larian.
But even in the unlikely event that they were to obtain a license from Larian that included the engine, the hurdle would be too high.
2. The Team
Even harder to replicate than the technology would simply be the team working at Larian. Swen Vincke and his colleagues have perfected their craft year after year, know their engine inside and out, and draw on a wealth of knowledge that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.
That’s why Ohlen believes that no one else can make a Baldur’s Gate 4 that comes close to Larian’s version. The only chance is to develop a sequel that turns out completely different from Baldur’s Gate 3—one that relies on its own strengths and shakes up the industry.
“I wouldn’t want to compete with that. Developing Exodus is hard enough, but going up against Baldur’s Gate 3? That would be madness.
Baldur’s Gate 4 Will Come
Even if Archetype were to be persuaded after Exodus to develop Baldur’s Gate 4, Ohlen would likely no longer be involved. The Bioware veteran left the industry in December 2025 after nearly 30 years in the gaming industry and is now pursuing other goals.
Wizards of the Coast may have already found a replacement for Larian, as the publisher seems determined to develop Baldur’s Gate 4. However, we don’t know who will actually take on this task. There are a few well-known RPG studios, such as Owlcat or Obsidian, but nothing is known about this yet.
