Baldur's Gate 3 dev calls industry layoffs an "avoidable f*ck up" Following the great success of Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios' head of publishing says industry layoffs are an "avoidable f*ck up."Tom West Published 08 Apr 2024 FollowtopicsBaldur's Gate 3Larian StudiosID@XboxLocal MultiplayerStrategyTom West Despite a few issues when it launched on Xbox in December, the general consensus from players working through the Baldur's Gate 3 achievements has been favorable — and we've got it on our list of the best Xbox RPGs. As an independent developer, Larian isn't beholden to the whims of a publisher, and is somewhat safe from the widespread redundancies hitting many other companies, including Microsoft. Larian Studios' head of publishing says industry layoffs are an "avoidable f*ck up."Larian Studios' head of publishing speaks on the widespread industry layoffsAfter Baldur's Gate 3 won the Game of the Year award during the Game Developer's Choice Awards last month, the company's head of publishing Michael Douse spoke with Game File about the current state of the industry. During the interview, Douse noted that game developers now have to "act very quickly and react very quickly" to changing industry trends, likening larger companies to oil tankers, which are often unable to change course as things change swiftly."I remember I was talking to someone earlier about this really important nuance: Predictability is the only reason large companies can operate. Everything's planned out. Everything's predicted, [with] incredibly intelligent people working within those margins of error," Douse said. "In video games, it's very difficult to predict anything. And so, what is the fallout? Well, essentially, very long story short, it's all of these layoffs, because it's too hard to say: This is what we need. This is what we need it for. And this is what our reserves are. ""But to prevent these giant operational failures that we call layoffs…they are an avoidable f*ck-up. That's really all they are. That's why you see one after the other. Because companies are going: ‘Well, finally. Now we can, too. We've wanted to do it for ages. Everyone else is. So why don't we?' That's really kind of sick." Despite the larger companies not being able to swiftly change their trajectory to keep up with swiftly changing player habits, Douse doesn't believe there are risks of bankruptcy, only the potential to upset their shareholders."There are cases where that may be true. But, no, they don't have to. None of these companies are at risk of going bankrupt. They were just at risk of pissing off the shareholders. And that's fine. That's how they work. The function of a public company is to create growth for its shareholders. That is the function, right? It's not to make a happy climate for the employees."As for Baldur's Gate 3, Douse attributes some of its success to Larian's nimbleness, switching things up on the fly. "We're really lean and nimble and opportunistic, and I think we like to work with new data daily. None of the shit that we did in the publishing team was planned years in advance. And I think that’s also true for the development team," Douse said. "If you asked us what Baldur's Gate III would look like, how much it would cost and how it would feel three years ago, I wouldn't know. We just took it day by day. As an operation, we created reserves. We scoped up based on what we thought we would need and created reserves and fallbacks, just in case we would have to. Luckily, we don't have to. We're just nimble. Being nimble is key. Big companies are not nimble."Last month during GDC, Larian boss Swen Vincke surprised us all by revealing that Larian won't be developing any new Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, and will in fact be stepping away from Dungeons & Dragons altogether.More Baldur's Gate 3 stories: Larian Studios has "two very ambitious RPGs" in development, opens new studio Baldur's Gate 3 is getting more evil with next Xbox patch Best Xbox RPGs Baldur's Gate split isn't to do with Wizards of the Coast, Larian says Baldur's Gate 3 dev is done with D&D, no DLC or a sequel is coming Industry News Written by Tom WestTom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.