Originally Posted by Blackheifer
Thank you for this. It's nice to see a researched, well-thought out take with citations instead of the usual lazy bullshit people spew.
The amount of misinformation about this subject is staggering. I've seen so much of it both here and on the official Larian discord. It's why I really wish Larian would just give us more details already as it's starting to cause a problem where people assume it's been cancelled or was never planned to begin with.

For example: I've seen people claim that Wizards of the Coast has forced Larian to cancel the idea because of a licensing issue with the Dungeons and Dragons IP. This claim has zero evidence and I have no idea where it comes from. Nobody at Larian or anywhere else has said this. There's also a lot of evidence to the contrary. Solasta: Crown of the Magister another D&D 5.0 based game has a toolset for example. It also has a Steam workshop with approximately 700 custom levels released thus far. It also makes zero sense why Swen would announce tool releases two separate times if Wizards of the Coast legally prevented them from releasing.

Swen's comments back in July were very clear.
Quote
9. "Will there ever be a DM tool to make custom campaigns and maps?"

NO. It will be a huge undertaking and too complicated.

"Will you guys support modding, can a DM mode be modded in?"

Swen - We will support modding, and we plan to introduce modding tools . It will be a huge challenge though to create new areas, you would need a team. Introducing a DM mode would be an epic undertaking. The engine is there and there is a lot you can do - but the visuals you must put in are quite extensive to make, there is no way to rapidly put a dungeon together, you would need to really spend time to do it."
This quote makes it pretty clear they plan on releasing something that would allow for custom environments for example
These comments very clearly state that they'll release something that will allow for creating custom environments. Which is the one thing the community can't as of yet do.

Originally Posted by Blackheifer
I kind of understood that Larian is trying to put out fires with the console releases at this point, especially the Xbox so this may not come out for a while.
The reason I believe it was delayed is because the toolset previously came out at launch for D:OS1/2. Whereas for BG3 they always said "after launch". Swen also had an interview with PC Gamer at launch where he said it would come out after the PS5 port. Which released on September 6th 2023. Then we heard nothing about it after that. They patched the epilogue in. And then released the Xbox version in December without an announcement.

My theory as to the timeline is thus.
  • BG3 is planned to release on PC first, PS5 port later
  • Swen fully plans to release its toolset after the PS5 port. They've never done a simultaneous release on console so logically they delay the toolset
  • BG3 explodes in sales, does way better than expected
  • Larian prioritizes fixing bugs in the meantime while they put out the PS5 port
  • The PS5 port releases. It sells tremendously well. Microsoft finds out about this and requests they make an Xbox port asap
  • Larian decides to prioritize putting out the Xbox port as a result and spends October and November on it. And it releases at the beginning of December


At this point it's only a question of when. Either: Soon, since it's been 2 months since the Xbox port. Which is right around when it was originally planned to release. Alternatively they're going to just write off releasing the toolset right now and wait until they inevitably release Baldur's Gate 3 Definitive Edition. At this point I'm expecting it'll either be announced with Patch 6, or when Swen goes to GDC in March, or at the one year anniversary in August. Only time will tell which option they go with.