The development of Baldur’s Gate 3 wasn’t completely free from crunch, according to a senior official at Larian Studios. However, the company managed to keep overtime work to a minimum compared to their previous projects.
Working overtime is common in many industries, but the gaming industry has a history of pushing this practice to the extreme.
The unpredictable nature of complex software development contributes to this, along with the fact that many people consider game development their dream job and are willing to tolerate inconveniences like crunching.
In recent years, there has been more public awareness and discussion about the gaming industry’s crunch culture. This has led to more companies being questioned about their development practices openly.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Dev Explains Crunch Issues
Larian Studios recently weighed in on the ongoing conversation about crunch in game development. CEO Swen Vincke confirmed that Baldur’s Gate 3, which received critical acclaim, required some overtime work to complete. Speaking at the Digital Dragons conference in Krakow, Vincke acknowledged that “a bit” of crunch was necessary due to the complexity of the RPG.
Vincke emphasized that Larian Studios learned from past projects, which helped them minimize the crunch for Baldur’s Gate 3 compared to previous games. He mentioned that Larian’s studios were usually “almost empty” after 8 pm and weekend work was very rare, mostly happening near the end of development.
The company also ended up cutting some content from Baldur’s Gate 3, such as additional maps and playable companions, which helped maintain normal working hours as deadlines approached.
Vincke believes that the intensity of work required for Baldur’s Gate 3 was minimal enough that some might not even consider it a crunch. He also mentioned that paid overtime helped make these extra hours more acceptable for employees.
Larian’s international network of studios played a role in minimizing the crunch, as there was always some part of the team in the office at any given time. Vincke highlighted that Larian recently opened its seventh studio in Warsaw, Poland, in May 2024, further committing to this distributed structure.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Reception and Impact
Vincke said that he and his employees didn’t work too much overtime, but they did have to work a little extra to finish Baldur’s Gate 3. They usually left work by 8 pm and only worked on weekends very rarely.
“I think, honestly, you will always have a little bit of overtime when you’re trying to finish something, especially when there’s so much complexity that needs to be brought together,” Vincke said.
Crunch is a controversial topic in the video game industry. Developers like CD Projekt Red, the studio behind Cyberpunk 2077, and The Witcher, have been criticized for making their employees work mandatory overtime.
The backlash was heard by the leaders of the studio, though, and they say that CD Projekt Red has stopped making their employees work that way.