Despite the fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 spent almost three years in Early Access and was created using the community, Larian Studios claims that when it was created, it was guided not only by the behavior of the players. According to the director of the game, Swen Vincke, the goal was to pay attention to all the elements of the role -playing game, even if "only 0.001% of the audience sees them".
In an interview with the YouTube channel Dungeons & Dragons Vinka said that although the company has access to data on how players behave, he chose not to look at this statistics.
We have people who look through it, but I usually try not to do this, because otherwise it can affect creative solutions, and I want to be sure that we continue to invest significant funds that it may only see 0.001 % of the audience, ”he said.
It is important that all the paths you are moving in the game are equally interesting, ”continues the director of Baldur’s Gate 3,“ and if you say: "Oh, 80% of players go there and see it", then there will be that you will direct all your efforts to those 80 % of possible impressions, and the remaining 20 % you will take less strength".
During the air, Winka explained that he is well aware of issues such as the most popular classes of the game, but tried not to focus on this information. He also said that since the world is Dungeons & Dragons is so rich, he was constantly bothered by the fact that there are not enough details in the game to please all its fans.
It was very important for us that if you choose this particular subclass, then you feel it, ”he explained. In this case, you have to work a lot, but it was never about the reason not to do this. I meant that for 0.001% of them the presence of appropriate experience is important because they chose this subclass, and we offer it to them.
One of the elements that helped Baldur’s Gate 3 to ensure a high level of detail is the fact that Vinka is not only the director of the game, but also the general director of Larian Studios and owns most of its shares. As a result, the company can make decisions that benefit the gaming process and the audience.
It is difficult to imagine that in a large studio responding to pressure from shareholders, data on choosing the most popular events for players will not have a priority value.