Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Ukraine a Tiny country,? are you serious right now? Its the second largest country in Europe. its 87% the size of Texas which is freaking huge. Pre the Russian invasion they accounted for 15% of the worlds corn trade, and 10% of the worlds wheat Trade. Thats 4th and 5th largest exporter in the world btw. It literally is/was Europe's food machine. And the invasion has had catastrophic consequences for Several countries who depended on Ukraine's food production, predominantly African countries.

When it comes to the OPs question/topic, I wouldnt blame Larian too much for wanting to stay Neutral on this one, just as most companies are on China/Taiwan, and several other conflicts and Political tensions around the world. But Im pretty sure being a Belgian company, that most of their employees are pro Ukraine, just like the rest of Europe are. I know I am.

Much love to any Ukrainians reading this, stay strong, and dont give in to oppression. This conflict is a tragedy for civilians and the fallen from both Nations, but Ukraine is simply defending themselves, and long may it continue.

Sry for going a bit "political" there, but I think most ppl would agree with it.

Dracony, for what it's worth, I imagine much of the Larian developers and Larian fans are behind Ukraine (based on their geographical location and apparent political disposition), even if there is no official statement.

I'm trying to tailor my response on this topic as narrowly as possible. I think this localization speaks volumes about Larian's position

I respectfully disagree, this is not an appropriate topic for a Baldur's Gate 3 forum imho.

I was FLOORED that this was considered a valid topic.

Politics is a very dangerous thing, if you really want to put politics first in everything, why not be a politician instead of a game producer
It is wise to remain politically neutral and silent on any controversy

Their house, their rules, we're just visiting. I have only good things to say about Red Queen, so I trust her to make the right decision either way.

If I do a poor job of staying on topic in responding to this, my apologies to all, but I certainly intend to.

Art doesn't exist without context. We don't crack open our art history textbooks and ignore the relevant political climate. My once upon a time undergraduate degree involved 8 semesters of art history broadly, and six semesters of the history of photography specifically.

In every single one of the many art history courses I've taken at the undergraduate level, period-contemporary politics was deeply relevant. Same as with science. Same as with math. Newton calculating the fall of the moon on account of he was bored on lockdown for plague...? You can't poke at the history of anything at all without politics being involved.

But that's a subject for the historians and textbook writers. For us here just trying to have a jaw about a game? How the studios and producers and distributors and how they get their money.... it's all relevant. And like all art in history, contemporary politics is relevant to the studios' and producers' and distributors' approach to things.

Having the discussion as narrowly appropriate as is ideal given an apolitical goal... that's difficult. I guess what I'm trying to say is, categorizing the topic as "not appropriate", i think there are reasonable disagreements with that position

Just caught up properly on posts since my previous last night. I note that the OP said that it might have been a good ending to the thread, and I agree that the information we have has been shared and folk have had chance to make their points. I'm therefore going to leave this post locked, though if anyone has any more information about comment Larian have made on this topic, beyond them having closed their Russian office and offered Ukrainian language localisation as has already been observed, then feel free to PM me and I'll reopen so it can be added.

I do think it's valid to discuss whether and how a games company like Larian should take political or moral stances, but I think that's a debate that would go better if discussed generally rather than with reference to this particular topic, and also if it were started with a thoughtful post on that topic, so don't think this thread is the right place to have that conversation.