Well, not sure but as far as i know WotC is only the licensors and not a sponsor. WotC gave the license to be able to use the Forgotten Realms and make corresponding specifications (e.g. implementation of the 5th edition of D&D).

My 5 cent:
It was a somewhat unfortunate decision to name this game "Baldur´s Gate III". It was totally clear what all the Baldur´s Gate Fans expect when they are reading PART 3. I think the problems are not
-using the Divine-Engine instead a similar Infinity-Engine (like in games: Pillars of Eternity, Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness or Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen)
-the similar gameplay to Divine Original Sin
-turn based fights with regard to the 5 edition of D&D
BUT the only common ground to the predecessors is the setting in the Forgotten Realms in and around the city of Baldur´s Gate. Unfortunaly nothing from the predecessors will be continued but what the title "III" implies. In reality Baldur´s Gate III is "just" a new campaign. The big outcry of many fans could have been avoided if the game had been called "Baldur´s Gate: NamedItWhateverYouLike" but not Baldur´s Gate III.

It is no accident that WotC released a new campaign for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game: Baldur's Gate: Descent in Avernus last year when Baldur´s Gate III was announced. It tells what's happened since Baldur's Gate II and plays 100 years after Baldur´s Gate II. The problem is that the story of the tabletop game must fit into Baldur´s Gate III. It was certainly a mandatory requirement for BG 3 from WotC.


For me personally, my character in BG3 will be the son of my character from BG1, SoD + BG2 and Jaheira.


Originally Posted by kyrthorsen
This is like taking a game like Dark Souls 3 by a new dev studio, tweaking the existing game mechanics, and then calling the "new" game Elder Scrolls 6, even thought actually the game should be called DS4.

This is similar to Bethesda taking Fallout franchise and building Fallout 3 and 4 on the existing Elders Scrolls 4 mechanics. The difference is that this BG3 will not work as intended because BG2 fans are very specific about what they like and why they like BG and BG2 so much.

A better fit would be is Wotc hired Obsidian because PoE is much more like BG then DoS.

My gut feeling is that Wotc simply didnt want to spend a lot of money on development of a new BG3, so they just said to Larian hey can you make BG3 from DoS2, and what would be the price.

The game has not really been in development a very long time, which means they are trying to make a some money by not investing a whole lot.

Hope for all the best for Larian, but this was a cheap move in my book.