The arrogance to think that larian is the only good option fir witc. Wotc has many options - some of them potentially better. In 10 years, we could have another company making a dnd game that sells more. *shrug*
And, thete us no evidence that bg 'by far' is yhe 'most popular' dnd game. Sell the most is likely, but we'll see. Do not underestimate the earlier BGs that without this game would not exist or NWN which also, FYI, outsold either BG.
And, no dev is 'completely independent' when making a dnd game.
If Wizard of the Coast had better options with bigger AAA developers they would have already signed an agreement. But the reality is that bigger developers typically don't want to work with others' IPs and nobody else would undertake the risk of of making a game with so much optional content and so many optional paths that most people will not see most of that content when trying to maximize profits which would make for a vastly worse D&D experience as D&D is all about choice. WotC has some say over the IP so they can look at what Larian is implementing and how and demand something be changed since it's their IP but they have no control over Larian's future at all. The worst they could do is deny them future use of the D&D IP but they have no reason to do that...they didn't pay to develop the game...they have no financial stakes. Any royalties they get are free money for WotC...this isn't an investment they have to sweat over. They could allow 1000 dev teams to make D&D games if they aren't funding those games. Nobody has to answer to investors about the making of this game and some dudes in suits with zero interest in video games saying the earnings weren't multiplied enough and cutting funding or anything like that.
