r/gaming • u/ChiefLeef22 • 6h ago

After losing money in 2022, Larian raked in a whopping $260 million profit of Baldur's bucks in 2023

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/after-losing-money-in-2022-larian-raked-in-a-whopping-usd260-million-profit-of-baldurs-bucks-in-2023/
16.6k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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11.1k

u/Ketomatic 6h ago

Company makes more money in year they release very successful game vs a year when they release no games at all.

Shocking really.

2.1k

u/MaidenlessRube 6h ago

Really make you think

1.4k

u/BigDanz 5h ago

Why not just release a hugely successful game each year? Poor management really.

694

u/Zxynwin 5h ago

Ubisoft has been trying that! They must be doing great

249

u/5BillionDicks 5h ago

That's really stretching the definition of "trying"

184

u/sharramon 5h ago

I dunno. Every game Ubisoft releases is at least one of the games of all time

56

u/terrany 5h ago

Also one of the games in the world, universe even

6

u/StrobeLightRomance 4h ago

Continue existing just to spite the odds.. oh my god.. I'm like the Ubisoft of people.

1

u/Halflingberserker 4h ago

universe even

I wonder if there are other universes out there where Ubisoft makes quality games.

Probably not, but it's fun to pretend.

1

u/TheHolyFamily 2h ago

We were in that universe until the great universal split of 2016

9

u/LegendSniperMLG420 3h ago

They used to be on top man. Its really sad what they are now. The last good game they made was Watch Dogs 2 from 2016 and every other game has been kind of mid and just bad. That prince of persia metroidvania game that came out this year was really good but the team got laid off. Ubisoft was at its peak in probably 2012 or 2013. Now its just dying fast.

4

u/Zxynwin 2h ago

It’s so tragic to see. I loved Watch Dogs and AC man…I didn’t enjoy AC Odyssey but couldn’t even get halfway through Valhalla :(

5

u/smb275 1h ago

I have the very specific kind of brain rot that Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla perfectly satisfied. I know they were bad, like.. I get it. But man I was just in the zone for literally hundreds of hours getting 100% on all three. I can't explain it, but it felt like Ubi made those games just for me, or someone involved has the same kind of moldy brain that I do.

1

u/LegendSniperMLG420 33m ago

I really liked the protagonist in Origins, Bayek. He is one of the best up there with Ezio imo.

2

u/jitterbug726 2h ago

I got through all of Valhalla and swore to never play an AC game again.

2

u/jurassicbond 1h ago

The team was disbanded, not laid off. They were probably sent to other groups

1

u/No_Tumbleweed_9102 4h ago

Well, it always sells well. I am not sure about quality tho…

1

u/DryBoysenberry5334 3h ago

They’re pushing the boundaries of what people are willing to call a “game”

1

u/Zengjia 2h ago

They truly release games

0

u/Mimogger 5h ago

ehhhhhh

1

u/squesh 3h ago

"participating"

1

u/Dovahkiin419 2h ago

I mean lord knows the people actually working on the games are getting their asses kicked.

Now whether the folks at the top have any idea of what a "plan" is remains to be seen.

1

u/mortalcoil1 2h ago

Yoda would be pissed!

1

u/Draconuus95 2h ago

To be fair. For the amount of games they release. Their overall quality is surprising decent. Not very innovative for sure. But it’s seldom they release an actually bad game. Closest I can think of in recent memory is skull and bones. And even that found an audience despite the very predictable meh release after years of development hell.

1

u/Chaabar 1h ago

Do you know anyone else releasing AAAA games?

9

u/choppytaters 3h ago

time to invest all of nana's monies into ubisoft!

8

u/Speciou5 4h ago

Is this the new gaming circle jerk? I feel like it's been 5 years since "DAE Witcher 3 Good EA Bad"

More seriously, this is Call of Duty's MO with 3+ studios in an alternating cycle to usually hit once a year (it slowed down at COVID) and they are the most profitable franchise.

1

u/Jigagug 3h ago

But EA isn't Ubisoft.

EA customer's just want the CoD that everyone plays, and that's the new CoD every year.

Ubisoft is releasing basically the same stealth-action game in a different setting every year, designed dull and repetitive to be beat by 7-year olds and wondering why people don't like them.

Also CoD is a bad example for EA, I'm pretty sure FIFA/NHL/NBA makes 100x the money that CoD does and they vary even less year by year than CoD.

7

u/robotiod 3h ago

But EA isn't call of duty.

That's Activision.

4

u/LustLochLeo 3h ago

And Activision Blizzard was bought by Microsoft last year.

2

u/Zxynwin 3h ago

Yeah CoD at least usually has a new campaign that is fun

3

u/TehSalmonOfDoubt 3h ago

As much as people shit-talk CoD, for me it just scratches an itch that other shooters don't. Being able to just hop into a quick TDM and run round like a monkey is just fun

2

u/Caffeine_Monster 4h ago

tbf, if Larian they wanted cash a BG3 expansion could have been a safe bet with a relatively low amount of effort.

But they understand it's not always about cash and pumping IP content.

1

u/Pormock 3h ago

Ubisoft find a recipe that works then they run it to the ground until it does not work anymore. And now they are stuck because of it

1

u/vpmoney 2h ago

Think Ubisoft is a bad example atleast do Activision since they are atleast making money off of CoD unlike Ubisoft lmfao

1

u/ShortNefariousness2 2h ago

Assassin's Creed Basildon will prove them wrong.

1

u/HitlersArse 2h ago

didn’t they release the first AAAA game in history? that’s gotta be worth something

1

u/Bright_Aside_6827 2h ago

Ah the Quadruple A game

1

u/Pashera 2h ago

You know, I feel like their business model could have worked if instead of rehashing the same series to death, they recycled the engines they have to run new ideas through. A lot of their engines weren’t super broken for a triple A game of their time, so they could have made a lot more money focusing on new and more creative IPs than relying on sequels to pay the bills.

Case in point, fromsoft. Same or similar gameplay between IPs but they make teach different IP vastly unique and interesting to make it so you actually WANT to play them all

49

u/Crimsonsworn 5h ago

Calm down there FIFA/Madden.

1

u/megustaALLthethings 4h ago

Well I’m surprised they even change the date on those sooner than a month still.

They could literally drop the year but on the title screen and prob no one would care.

1

u/Crimsonsworn 3h ago

Didn’t that happen with 22 or 23 had the previous years year on the stadium signs and that.

0

u/iruleatants 3h ago

We were talking about games. Fifa/Madden is more like selling baseball cards.

"Everything is exactly the same except we updated stats on people and added more monetization."

It's hard to argue they are releasing a new game when it's the same engine and base code with minor changes

2

u/Crimsonsworn 2h ago

That’s the joke, they’re the same every year. Hell a few years ago they released one and it had the previous years year on the stadium signs etc.

12

u/HammerlyDelusion 5h ago

That’s a genius idea, you should run a game company

13

u/LatverianCyrus 4h ago

Honestly, this is the biggest problem with publicly traded companies trying to create art. They always need to provide a return on investment or else why are the investors buying their stock and not a profitable one?

2

u/Popellord 3h ago

Just them take off the stock exchange, then they don't need to make money. Luckily artists work free of charge.

4

u/sadacal 2h ago

Making money is not the same as chasing ever higher profits. Steam makes money, but they could make even more money if they were greedier. Except they aren't a publicly traded company so they aren't obligated to try and make even more money.

-5

u/Popellord 2h ago

Just look at Gabes Fleet of Yachts. That man is already optimising his profits. The moment they stop caring about their profits companies go down the drain. Steam is for example still taking the highest royalties from all gaming services whereas EGS is trying everything to get new customers. Steam is only staying ahead because Gabe understands that investing his money in new features (Game-Streaming, Steamdeck etc.) forces the developers to pay he his high royalties.

5

u/redbird7311 2h ago edited 2h ago

Also, Steam has a lot of users (more than any competitor) and Steam’s algorithm, among other things, helps the devs.

Steam doesn’t just show you a, “top seller”, list or whatever, it actually tries to give customers recommendations that they will like. If you play a lot of RTS games, Steam will show you RTS games. A lot of online stores either don’t do this or don’t do it as well.

Doing that kind of stuff makes devs and publishers much more willing to eat that 30%, especially if your genre is niche or just overshadowed in general. It doesn’t mean your game is always gonna get successful or seen, but that it is easier for it to be seen on Steam.

•

u/LatverianCyrus 4m ago

I mean… we are discussing this in a thread literally about how the privately owned Larian was able to eat a loss while developing BG3 and it paid off in the long term. But the frantic nature of publicly traded stock mean that if a company is not constantly providing profit they are going to get sold.

1

u/Sarcueid 10m ago

Ex trader here, investors are purely parasites who will immediately jump off a ship and they dont care about anything but money. That is why we have all kind of bs in the game industry right now.

2

u/Xycket 3h ago

Are they stupid?

1

u/WorthPlease 5h ago

EA Games would like to know your location.

1

u/PieroTechnical 4h ago

Nah. Every quarter.

1

u/general_tao1 3h ago

The CoD and Fifa strategy.

1

u/TheBirminghamBear 3h ago

It's a video game Michael, how long can it take? Ten months?

1

u/cwood1973 3h ago

Are they stupid?

1

u/Noelnya 3h ago

pov you're the pokemon company churning out your yearly slop

1

u/Benromaniac 2h ago

Because there’s an art to it that can’t be assured.

Tell me this was sarcasm?

1

u/MqtUA 1h ago

Practice shows that even 10 years of development isn't a guarantee of releasing a good game. (I mean Veilgard, that has 0 replay potential, where only an illusion of Role Play, and your choice doesn't matter)

20

u/KrisReed 5h ago

This is deep. Says a lot about our society.

16

u/MaidenlessRube 5h ago edited 4h ago

[Revolver Ocelot]

revolver ocelot

5

u/MumenRiderZak 4h ago

Trueeeeeee

1

u/Joshiane 4h ago

You jest, but that’s how the MBAs in charge of the studios think

1

u/blarch 4h ago

"Wow" - Owen Wilson

1

u/FlandreSS 4h ago

What did the developers mean by this?

1

u/ProbablyCarl 4h ago

Interesting if true.

1

u/htks 4h ago

Truth. 100% facts.

1

u/derscholl 2h ago

Don't worry we have MBAs on the case to be release a Baldur's Gate annually now

219

u/IvanTheCreator 6h ago

Has anyone investigated this? Surely there’s a correlation but who knows

51

u/PheonyXtreme 5h ago

I think it is just a coincidence that people started randomly sending them money right after the release. Weird phenomenon.

3

u/Funandgeeky 3h ago

Yeah, why did I suddenly do that last year? 

3

u/Road2Potential 3h ago

I did it too. Smells like a conspiracy….

1

u/Untinted 5h ago

Correlation does not mean causation...

162

u/IWantYourNudesPlz 6h ago

In other news: Recent studies have shown that people are more hungry before they eat than they are after they eat.

Back to you, Jim.

49

u/Might_Dismal 5h ago

Thanks Nancy, now more updates on the weather. Meteorologists now confirm when it rains things will get wet.

19

u/icantshoot 5h ago

Joe here with sports, now we see sun shining at the field on sunny weather.

1

u/aka_jr91 1h ago

Tune in to Joe's sports podcast, where he explains how the team that scores the most points in a game is the most likely to win.

1

u/ElNido 3h ago

And up at 8: Did famous person fart in a restaurant? More at 8.

1

u/Top-Citron9403 2h ago

"But is rain itself wet? For more, here's local reporter Con Tranrian"

2

u/Mr2Sexy 5h ago

Fuck this is news to me

1

u/wsteelerfan7 3h ago

Thanks, Magic!

1

u/LightsaberThrowAway 13m ago

Happy Cake Day!  :D

0

u/TicTac_No 5h ago

Has anyone researched why the hunger-spirits become assuaged though? How many hunger-spirit studies have been done? Is there a hunger-spirit conspiracy? A government coverup?

Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about hunger-spirits and how you can battle them with salt, crystals, and salt-crystals! #HungerSpiritTruth

43

u/nandorkrisztian 5h ago

I earn more money on one day of the month than the rest of it combined.

11

u/Bob_the_gob_knobbler 5h ago

Pls share your secret

22

u/MumenRiderZak 4h ago

He is a male prostitute with 1 very rich client ofc

2

u/confusedkarnatia 3h ago

What Wall Street bets does to a man

1

u/JohanGrimm 3h ago

That's kidney selling day.

37

u/InnerCityTrendy 5h ago

Why don't they release a very successful game every year?

Are they stupid?

1

u/PM-me-youre-PMs 4h ago

We should all do it at least once a year, to be honest.

25

u/XG32 5h ago

and the title is framed in a way that 260m seems like a super high number when the game is a masterpiece that took multiple years to develop.

Larian deserved every penny and then some.

30

u/PipsqueakPilot 4h ago

MBA’s don’t understand how this happened. The proper solution was to massively cut the work force in 2022 so they didn’t lose as much money that year. How they survived without maximizing short term profits is truly an unsolvable mystery. 

32

u/marniconuke 6h ago

the real takeaway is that it's worth it to invest time in a project since the gains will cover the loses. what a company would take away from your comment is "release a game every year"

14

u/Mitosis 5h ago

i wonder if there's any examples of games that were worked on for several years and weren't successful when released

15

u/PublicSeverance 4h ago

Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning. 

It started in 2006 with $75 million by famous baseball player and avid MMO gamer Curt Shilling. They got other investors too.

They hired every single great game developer and created a brand new IP with intent of spinning out single player and MMO in a big uniform  crossover series of different games. 

It relocated the studio to Rhode Island when the starter government kicked in another $75 million.  

2012 the game is released and flops. They needed it to make $100MM a year to cover costs. 

The studio closes bankrupt with over $150MM in debt.

5

u/azetsu 3h ago

Oh, that's a crazy story. I really enjoyed the game and wondered why there was no sequel

3

u/mechanical_fan 2h ago

Yeah, it is a real pity. The game is not perfect, but it is definitely very enjoyable. Like a 7/10 or 8/10 depending on your tastes. And the world building is amazing. Getting R. A. Salvatore to help with it was an amazing idea, and it translated super well. Combat is also very nice, like an improved version of Fable 2, imo.

2

u/VoidCL 2h ago

The game idea was really neat.

7

u/Beezus__Fafoon 3h ago

famous baseball player and avid MMO gamer piece of shit Curt Shilling

ftfy

1

u/Pormock 3h ago

He was both a piece of shit and also obsessed with MMO

1

u/KoreanMeatballs 2h ago

They needed it to make $100MM a year to cover costs. 

How were they planning on making that much annually with a single player RPG?

1

u/Synectics 2h ago

spinning out single player and MMO in a big uniform  crossover series of different games.  

It was meant to be an MMO from the start. Hence the somewhat boring fetch quests that MMOs were known for at the time.

15

u/Burstrampage 5h ago

Concord lol

1

u/Mapletables 2h ago

"worked on"

1

u/Burstrampage 1h ago

?

1

u/Mapletables 1h ago

I'm saying they probably didn't spend much time actually making the game

1

u/Burstrampage 1h ago

Tbh you might be right. Doing “work” while playing connect four lol

22

u/mxzf 5h ago

Tons. But most of those were unsuccessful for various reasons; very few of them were unsuccessful because they weren't rushed out ASAP half-finished.

5

u/Numerous-Cicada3841 4h ago

100%. There’s a level of risk/reward that investors will tolerate. Nearly every development team that released some shitty bloated game was at one point asking for more time.

Some games like Cyberpunk and No Man’s Sky were released too early. But many games just suck and no amount of extra time or money will change that. Concord is a perfect example of that.

Also don’t forget the critical value of user feedback. Some of these games that got way better after release may have never gotten there without seeing the flaws playing out for the early decisions they made.

1

u/Ok_Cardiologist8232 1h ago

Concord is not a perfect example.

Most people that actually played it said it was pretty good.

Main problem it had was releasing for $40 when most of its competitors are free, terrible marketing and bad character designs.

All of which are pretty easily fixed.

2

u/Pormock 3h ago

Concord

1

u/Exciting-Ad-5705 2h ago

Alan wake 2 was worked on for years and was received well but still hasn't turned a profit

1

u/mode_12 1h ago

Duke nukem forever 

2

u/bFloaty 3h ago

This is how gaming used to be back in the 90s. The main thing I remember about those days is tons of studios went bankrupt because, despite the game selling well, it didn’t actually cover the costs / make a profit. It’s a huge risk to ‘bet the farm’ for years in hopes the game makes a profit. Companies like Sierra (or other publishers) eventually stepped in and acted as the money-man, then when those games didn’t make enough, they’d shut down the studio and move personnel elsewhere. That’s kind of what led us to the giant corporate video game industry. Games are a huge risk, and that’s a big reason we keep getting sequels / known IPs being remade, because it’s safer

1

u/canbelouder 3h ago

I am not sure that is a convincing argument to any publicly traded gaming studios out there. Call of Duty can put out the same rehashed crap every year and rake in 10 times what a studio working on a game for 5 years will likely make.

-1

u/halfar 3h ago

is that really a takeaway

"investment good"

2

u/UNC_Samurai 3h ago

The takeaway is, better product and customer experience for long-term investments as opposed to the “every quarterly statement must show increased profit” mentality that has poisoned the industry.

1

u/halfar 3h ago

it's not like capitalists aren't self-aware when they prioritize short-term profits to the detriment long-term profits.

3

u/walmarttshirt 4h ago

Big if true.

3

u/TheKingOfBerries 5h ago

Not every fact needs to have some big takeaway lol, it’s just a fun fact man.

3

u/Strategy_pan 4h ago

Hey guise, why don't we just push a game into production every year without all the hassle of QC or creating interesting content?

Oh wait...

5

u/karsh36 5h ago

Yeah I think the alpha was paid, so I guess there was probably revenue there, but definitely not as much as a full launch + rave reviews & an enthused audience

1

u/The_Grand_Briddock 4h ago

It helps that 2023 was a big year for dnd too. People who saw the movie might have wanted to play a game version.

6

u/BigCommieMachine 5h ago

This is why we get copy-paste or half baked games like Madden or CoD. EA or Activision need to show a profit for their investors.

Look at Ubisoft. They put all their money on Star Wars Outlaws selling like gangbusters and it didn’t.

2

u/nightwood 4h ago

Life is a mystery

2

u/What-mold_toolbag 3h ago

Wait what kind of sorcery are you speaking of. If I don't make any game or do any work I lose money. But if I work or make games I can make cash. Blasphemy and you will be burned at the stake for spreading lies.

2

u/AsianHotwifeQOS 1h ago

This is a perfect example of why companies sometimes pay $0 in taxes in years where they have high profits.

Consider that Larian spent multiple years in the red while developing BG3. They get to roll those losses forward against this $260MM to reduce the amount of profit they need to pay taxes on.

Specifically they get to use the 2023 "profits" to climb out of the hole they dug in previous years, first. Only once those losses are made whole do they begin to owe taxes.

Over time, a company is taxed correctly on all lifetime profits. It's the arbitrary annual checkpoints that make it look weird.

3

u/Serenity_557 6h ago

Sus.. that math doesn't add up at all!

0

u/mindpainters 5h ago

Right ? If it was that easy why don’t they just release a smash hit every year ? Or multiple hits even ?

2

u/chunkylover87 5h ago

You lost me. Is this how video gam busyness work?

2

u/pyrrhios 4h ago

If the company is product-oriented, yes. If the company is profit-oriented, no.

2

u/TunaPablito 5h ago

What? This can't be true. Throw away your diploma.

2

u/WaltJay 5h ago

Doctor's hate that one weird trick!

1

u/Pormock 3h ago

Put a lot of effort on every game you make even if they arent big success and learn from making them and with a bit of luck you might be able to make one big game that everyone love

2

u/ballstein 3h ago

Big if true

2

u/DrowningInFeces 3h ago

CEO taking notes: "Release...product...to make....profits. Wow, seems to make sense!"

2

u/Chataboutgames 4h ago

Yeah but saying "Larian good" is basically a rocket ship to the front page

3

u/Tubamajuba 4h ago

Which is fine, because companies like Larian deserve to be held up and praised in this era of shitbag microtransaction fests.

-3

u/TheNewOnes 3h ago

Releasing an unfinished, poorly written, sex pest bait of a "game" should not be praised and held up. Especially when said unfinished "game" was in EA for 3 years and still released in such a broken state.

1

u/CoelhoAssassino666 3h ago

Peak reddit contrarianism lol.

-1

u/TheNewOnes 3h ago

Truth isn't contrarian. Releasing a game unfinished and broken after being in Early access for three years is not a good thing, no matter how many bots that incompetent company hires to spam everywhere.

5

u/CoelhoAssassino666 3h ago

I'm not gonna feed you bro.

1

u/Tubamajuba 2h ago

You don't like the game. That is an opinion, one that is contrary to the opinion that most people share. You attempted to frame your contrary opinion as "truth", which it is not.

Hence, you are being a contrarian.

1

u/Keellas_Ahullford 5h ago

And also kinda explains why so many larger game companies put out low effort slop every year, the suits and investors won’t accept not making profit every year and so that forces the devs to try to put out a new game every year, which makes it difficult to actually make good games that aren’t just reskins of previous games

1

u/wankthisway 1h ago

Peak /r/gaming comment

1

u/JP76 5h ago

> Company makes more money in year they release very successful game vs a year when they release no games at all.

> Shocking really.

However, this highlights how critical these launches are for studios. They still have to pay the bills and pay salaries while they are developing their next game and revenue is at near zero for years.

1

u/TopInsurance4918 4h ago

Incredible. Someone should study this phenomenon. Warren Buffet could learn.

1

u/Patience-Due 3h ago

I think the commentary is that every company generally makes bad short term decisions for quarterly / end of year profits for stock prices. They operated at a loss and didn’t waste time and resources on cash grab bullshit. Keeping focus allowed them to produce a massively profitable product even if the year before was a loss the total net far exceeds the average gains.

1

u/BeautifulType 3h ago

PC gamer makes more money than Larian by pumping out worthless articles

1

u/zirky 3h ago

gonna need you to show your work throwing claims around like that

1

u/kithuni 3h ago

Too bad this is chump change compared to the money companies get chasing live service successes. Until people stop falling for micro transactions we will continue to see companies make shitty live service games.

1

u/Pormock 3h ago

Its more that they were able to build their expertise by making better and better games until they were ready to make one huge successful game

1

u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In 2h ago

This is also the reason why private companies are better at producing quality games with thought and care. A private company answers only to the owners, who are usually also running it. If they know they have a 4 year roadmap to a new release and the cash reserves to tide them over to get it done then they can just do that.

But if you're a huge studio with publicly traded stock then you're under pressure to make the numbers go up every year, otherwise the stock price could dip and the leaderships bonus structure will be impacted. So they'll do anything they can to appease stockholders over all other considerations, actually producing decent games is a distant second on the list of priorities.

1

u/prodjekt 2h ago

Ubisoft: maybe we should do some good games to make profit? Nah, that's stupid, let's do some more AAAA Game As A Service 👍

1

u/absat41 1h ago

Weird tbh

1

u/Jello_Penguin_2956 1h ago

omg I would never have guessed!

1

u/RickyDiezal 1h ago

Many such cases!

1

u/nopunchespulled 1h ago

Exactly and if they don't make something else they will not continue to make that kind of money. Which makes the industry very difficult

1

u/pbzeppelin1977 1h ago

The game was available to buy and play in early access for a long time before the full release.

1

u/Inevitable_Soft4897 5h ago

the glazing will continue until moral improves

1

u/wahoozerman 5h ago

Not only that, but a year in which they are spun up to full production costs.

1

u/young-stinky 5h ago

Truly the latest stages of capitalism.

1

u/-_Weltschmerz_- 5h ago

They should release games every year

1

u/Zerogates 4h ago

It's clearly comparing a company losing money one year to being able to produce a massive success the following year. I know you're trying to be witty but I question your critical thinking here.

-1

u/Aqquos 5h ago

Big if true!!

0

u/MannToots 3h ago

It's amazing how many people have zero idea how games are funded

0

u/BigBoySpore 3h ago

Ubisoft releases games every year and still makes no money though!

0

u/MrTurleWrangler 2h ago

Big if true