Baldur’s Gate 3 CEO suggests studios should give modders licenses to work on free projects in any game, as they should “applaud” fans’ hard work

Larian Studios has left Baldur’s Gate 3 in the hands of modders as the now-beloved game developer starts working on two new games. With massive mod teams filled with hundreds of dedicated fans now making entirely custom campaigns, CEO Swen Vincke believes this is the future of BG3 without Larian.

In an interview with GameSpot, the Larian CEO explained that companies should be more willing to license their IP to modders working in any game. Using the Stardew Valley mod Baldur’s Village as an example, a project that was taken down by Wizards of the Coast, Vincke believes that handing modders a license to work on an IP is a decent way forward.

Baldur’s Gate 3 CEO on giving modders licenses

Speaking to the outlet in an hour-long video interview, Vincke explained that “IP law is really tricky”. (Perhaps this is a reason why the studio is said to be working on another original IP instead of creating a Baldur’s Gate 4.)

“It’s one of those laws that you [have] a hard time dealing with it because at the core it’s an exclusion law,” Vincke explained. “It’s a deviation from a general principle there should be a free market, so that’s why you have all these stupid things around it. That does need to be said because it leads companies to do strange things as a result of it.”

Vincke explained that as “a company that owns IP it’s perfectly possible to give somebody a license” to work on a project with their world and their characters. Whether that’s a mod for Baldur’s Gate 3 such as Path to Menzoberranzan or the aforementioned Stardew Valley mod, the Larian lead believes companies should be more willing to lend their properties to those willing to spend time and effort making free projects. After all, they’re still going to try and make them anyway.

“You could just say. ‘hey, I think what you’re doing is really cool, here’s a license’, and that solves it. And I think that’s what was done in this case [of Baldur’s Village]. That’s the easiest way of dealing with it um if you’re a company, especially in games or in any entertainment [where] you have a group of people that spends I don’t know how much time creating something in honour of your game. especially in another game.”

Vincke explained that companies should “applaud” fans’ efforts to make their own projects based on your properties. For example, look at Bethesda: despite making an official Oblivion Remastered, the company is still promoting the long-in-development Skyblivion mod and even game the team free copies of the new game.

“It’s really cool, right?” the Baldur’s Gate 3 creator said. “I mean, like, it’s passion, it’s word of mouth from a marketing point-of-view. And if it’s good it’s a contribution to the entire game’s ecosystem so, yeah, I think those are are are good things to happen.”

The Larian CEO did explain that it’s “different when it gets exploited commercially”, but “when it’s free when it’s fan-based” companies don’t “need to crack down on that” as it sends the wrong message to fans.

Of course, not every company is going to become like Larian… can you imagine Nintendo letting fans play with Mario? However, it is a much healthier way of looking at modding. Despite countless DMCA takedowns and other legal threats, Pokemon fans still create new fan games and ROM hacks every day, and that only proves Vincke’s point. Even if Wizards of the Coast shut down every Baldur’s Gate 3 project, fans would still be making them.