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Baldur's Gate 3 drives growth at Hasbro

Translate from : Baldurs Gate 3 driver vækst hos Hasbro

Baldur's Gate 3 brightens an otherwise downbeat financial report from Wizards of the Coast owner Hasbro. The report says that Larian's "megahit" RPG generated about $90 million in revenue last year, which bodes well for more video games from the D&D license.

In the wake of the report's release, Hasbro discussed the top Baldur's Gate 3 and the D&D license during a conference call. Although total revenue is down 15% due to lower sales in consumer products and entertainment, Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming are actually up 10%, thanks to "revenue behind Baldur's Gate 3 from Larian Studios and Monopoly Go! from Scopely."

CEO Chris Cocks stated that "video games are clearly going to be a huge asset to the D&D business," and he sees Baldur's Gate 3 as the beginning of several new video games that will come out over the next five to 10 years and continue to strengthen the franchise.

However, the outlook has been partially dampened by reports that Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have canceled several video game projects in the past year. At least five projects are said to have been shelved as of January 2023. Most recently, studio Hidden Path, which was previously working on an "epic D&D project with Wizards," has paused development and laid off 44 people. CEO Jeff Pobst confirmed in a LinkedIn post that the team was working on "an exciting RPG project."

Although Hasbro and Wizards have had some challenges with video games, they remain committed to the medium, especially after the gargantuan success of Baldur's Gate 3, which showed that D&D mechanics can appeal to non-tablet gamers. Cocks predicts "long-term success into 2024 and beyond" for this mega-hit, while Larian continues to support the game with new updates.

Larian is also already testing their next game, with CEO Swen Vincke saying that Baldur's Gate 3's success "really encourages us to make sure it breaks a lot of boundaries." Last month, Vincke said he had finally "figured out the first act" of whatever this mystery project is.

Baldur's Gate 3 now has over 500,000 Steam reviews and a score of 96%, which puts the game alongside Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight among the store's best-reviewed games.