It’s kind of an odd feeling to be having concerning one singular game, yet here it is all the same. Baldur’s Gate 3 has me feeling that perhaps AAA gaming isn’t completely doomed after all. It’s not so much that I expect the game to somehow single-handedly lead the industry out of the darkness or anything; no game is or ever will be that good. But I am looking at what it is and gaming’s reaction to it, and, yeah, I’m feeling a bit more optimistic now. If things go well, we really could have a turning point on our hands here.

Let me preface all this by saying I haven’t played Baldur’s Gate 3 yet. I’m very much looking forward to diving into it once it launches for PS5 on September 6, but I don’t have any hands-on experience as of yet. So, my optimism is not coming from my own experiences with the game. Where it is coming from though is from all of the crazy videos I’ve seen online, the incredibly positive player reception (those Steam numbers tho!) and the very negative reaction from many of the industries biggest developers/publishers.

I don’t think it’s controversial to say that most gamers are absolutely sick of modern AAA business practices. That is, shipping increasingly content-bare, broken games at launch and charging players more and more money to basically serve as beta-testers for greater and greater periods of time post-launch. Oh, and finding evermore devious ways to psychologically manipulate (and sometime outright deceive) players into spending more time and money on them. The state of AAA is an absolute joke, and something needs to give. Hopefully now, something will.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is reaching levels of prestige and popularity that I honestly would have thought impossible of a game of its type. I mean, I love RPGs, but let’s not kid ourselves here: RPGs have always been something of a niche genre, and that niche narrows dramatically the more deeply a game sits within the genre. A pure RPG that emulates old Dungeons & Dragons tabletop experiences would normally be something that doesn’t get all that much attention. Yet, here’s Baldur’s Gate 3 anyway with over 870,000 concurrent players on Steam in it’s second week post-official PC launch! Holy Cow! And why is it seeing such success: it’s a darn good game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was in early access for three years prior to this, and it sounds like there were issues aplenty during that time. There still are some now, but, crucially, the experience is largely polished-up now that’s it’s officially released. The scope of what players can do is breathtaking, the characters are fun, the world is beautiful, and there are absolutely ZERO microtransactions to spoil the experience! It’s an extremely well-made and ambitious game that works, gives players value for their money and isn’t trying to manipulate them into spending more. I’d like to think that people really appreciate that, especially nowadays.

As for the negative developer (and some mainstream media reactions), I can only see it as a good thing. These people and businesses are coming out and explicitly telling everyone what they’re about thanks to their attacks on Larian Studios and Baldur’s Gate 3. The desperation to try to convince gamers not to want similar experiences in the future shows us in no uncertain terms why so many AAA games are such broken, low-effort, gouging pieces of garbage: it’s because these companies want it that way: more and more money for less and less effort.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a threat to that awful standard, and now we all know it! I don’t think it’ll force any changes right away, but I am hopeful that more people will be less willing to just keep buying now that they know how the sausage is made, so to speak. Even if it doesn’t change anything, honestly it’s just nice to know that there are still developers out there like Larian Studios that still care more about making the best, most enjoyable game that they can than they do about making as much money as humanly possible. It’s dark out there, but there are still lights within it. Anyway, I’m looking forward to diving into the game next month! How about you?

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What do you think of all the attention Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting? How has it got you feeling about AAA gaming in general?

Image from the Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam page