BG3 also had those 2 crucial years of Early Access, where Larian were able to refine the game in real time based on player feedback. All whilst making Act 1 - the most crucial act for retaining and introducing players to the game - as polished as it could possibly be before launch.
For a predominantly single player-focused AAA title, such a thing is a rarity. I doubt current-day WotC or the fan base would be welcoming of the idea. Hell, I don't know if Larian themselves will be doing the same thing again for the next game, given their newfound mass-popularity. We'll have to see in that regard.
Yeah great point, honestly BG3 feel like a one in a kind union of events and factors that led to such a breakout success.
-A passionate independent developer which had built up their skills, tools, reputation amongst CRPG fans, and developer headcount over the years willing to take on the project with no publisher oversight to held them back.
-A resurgence of DnD as an IP in popular culture.
-A lack of "Bioware style" narrative heavy with romances RPGs in the last few years and people hungering for more.
-A jump in presentation from Larian part with cinematic cutscenes without cutting back on their unique turn based gameplay( with stuff like plenty of elemental and enviroment interactions )and immersive simmy design philosophy which made their games unique.
-A 2 years early access period that allowed Larian to take their time, polish the game(even if that polish was kinda frontloaded) while getting an early infusion of cash thanks to people buying the early access for basically full price thanks to the reputation Larian had built off the back of their previous 2 projects.
-A viral marketing campaign off that popular panel from hell stream with the bear romance memes
Like it was the perfect confluence of events, I don't know how you even begin to replicate that. You probably can't, not intentionally at least, need to find another passionate independent dev willing to risk it to do something special their own way and hope it works out which is not a guarantee. And I don't even know who could do it right now which is not already busy or dosen't have the experience or resources or manpower to do it.
That's why I would let the Baldur's Gate franchise rest for a while if Larian dosen't want it(and they made that clear by now) and wait for another fortuitos opportunity in the future instead of desperately trying to make the magic happen again as soon as possible and risk bungling it.
