Image: Larian Studios
Larian Studios’ CEO recalls that, “all of my team was going to go to war,” due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios reportedly had to relocate staff from Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. CEO Swen Vincke spoke to Edge magazine to confirm that the developer was “fighting with embassies and consulates,” in an effort to relocate developers away from its St. Petersburg studio during the invasion.
Vincke said that the staff had to be moved away because “all of my team was going to go to war."
Larian Studios shut down studio in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine
Larian Studios, developer of critically-acclaimed RPG Baldur’s Gate 3, had to move fast in reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in 2022. Speaking to Edge magazine, CEO Swen Vincke recalled having to shut down the developer’s St. Petersburg studio immediately following the invasion, which affected the game’s development quite a bit.
Vincke said, “In a machine as complicated as an RPG, where everything's connected to everything if you suddenly start ripping stuff out, the entire thing collapses [...] Because things that were supposed to be done are not being done."
The Russian studio’s closure led to several changes in Baldur’s Gate 3, as the developer adjusted to making the game with one less studio involved. “You could see the ripple effect, which resulted in compromises and cuts being made in the final product. [That] always happens, [but] it's rare that you lose a studio in the middle of development."
When the war began, Vincke had, “already thought about what we were going to do if it actually happened,” and the team began efforts to relocate its Russian staff to other studios around the world. The CEO recalls Larian, “fighting with embassies and consulates,” as the developer needed to, “move people away because, as these things go, you can almost predict that eventually there's going to be mobilisation, and that meant that all of my team was going to go to war."
More than 90% of the St. Petersburg team was relocated to other studios in the end, thanks to an internal joint task force specifically set up to facilitate the effort. Vincke said, “They did an incredible job, worked day and night to be able to get every single person a tailored solution to get them out of there. I'm super-proud of them for doing that."
Larian Studios isn’t the only game studio to be impacted by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine by a long shot. Ukrainian developer GSC Game World also had members of its team enlist in war efforts during the invasion, and suffered a Russia-linked security breach during development of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The game is now set to launch on September 5, 2024.
