Larian confirmed that Baldur’s Gate 3 will not be affected by the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game license change.
In response to our request for comment, Larian would not comment on the ongoing debate surrounding the leaked changes to the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License (OGL), nor their thoughts on those changes. However, they did confirm that Baldur’s Gate 3 will not be affected by them.
Ever since io9’s OGL leak and the reported closure of several studios making licensed Dungeons & Dragons games, parts of the fanbase have been concerned about whether Larian, Baldur’s Gate 3, or any future games will capture any of these changes.
The updated OGL has several changes that have drawn the ire of DnD players and creators alike. On the one hand, Wizards of the Coast will be able to claim royalties from their work based on their system reference documentation (containing their classes, items, spells, etc.). Additionally, it will deauthorize all previous versions of the OGL, meaning companies will be forced to move to the new rules.
These leaked OGL changes sparked a backlash from the online tabletop RPG community, who came together to voice their displeasure with the changes through the OpenDnD movement, a massive departure from Wizards of the Coast’s DnD app, DnD Beyond, and desktop Competitor Paizo (creators of Pathfinder) created their own new OGL.
Wizard and the Coast has responded to this backlash and leaked OGL (you can read a detailed analysis on Dicebreaker), but it’s unclear how this will affect the future of Dungeons & Dragons games. Will developers like Larian continue to create games set in that universe? Or will they look elsewhere for the source material? Only time will tell.
