Feature - Bringing it Back: Baldur`s Gate

Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II (I’m talking PC, not console) from Black Isle Studios were easily two of the most iconic role playing games of their age, eventually spawning dozens of other titles set in the same Dungeons & Dragons universe known as the Forgotten Realms. The massive success that was experienced by both Baldur’s Gate titles can be at least partially attributed to the fact that they were based around this fantasy universe, which has served as an inspiration for many other works of fiction including dozens of novels, several board games and a plethora of other video games.Unfortunately, the Baldur’s Gate franchise and Black Isle as a whole seemed to lose all of its steam in the attempt to transition into 3D graphics, resulting in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II on console. The Dark Alliance games differed from the original PC games in that they were focused almost entirely on action rather than strategy or role playing. Granted, the Dark Alliance games were designed to suit console play rather than PC, but it feels like they basically abandoned the strategic elements that formed the basis of the originals. Baldur’s Gate III and Dark Alliance III were planned for release by Black Isle but were later cancelled when their parent company, Interplay, closed Black Isle studios in 2003 due to financial difficulties. The closure of Black Isle was also partially due to the fact that Interplay had recently lost the Dungeons & Dragons rights to Atari.Black Isle was reopened by Interplay in 2012, sparking speculation in the gaming community that the company had reacquired the Dungeons & Dragons license. Since their reopening, Interplay has stated that Black Isle Studios will “be thoroughly focused on creating innovative RPGs like its predecessor.” Almost as if to demonstrate their renewed commitment, Black Isle released Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition in conjunction with Overhaul Games. Though there is no new Baldur’s Gate title currently pending, Black Isle has started work on a new RPG by the name of Project V13, which is said to be the successor to the failed Interplay project that was Fallout Online. In order to fund a prototype of Project V13, Black Isle created the Black Isle Mayan Apocalypse Replacement Program, which uses a crowdfunding dynamic similar to Kickstarter.So now that Black Isle is back into the swing of things and set up with a new source of fan-driven financing, the question must be asked: when can we expect to see a Baldur’s Gate III, if ever? The biggest hurdle that Black Isle faces right now is their lack of IP licenses on franchises that they themselves created, such as Fallout and Baldur’s Gate. Reobtaining those licenses will no doubt be an expensive endeavour for Black Isle and not a very practical one at such an early stage in their reemergence. But, for those of you who are holding out hope like me, there’s a chance for Black Isle to claw their way back to the top of pile, so long as they stick to what they do best: making some of the best role playing games in the world.In Short: Now that Black Isle Studios are back on the game development scene after nearly nine years, can we ever expect to see a Baldur's Gate III?

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