Regarding the ‘Larian vs AAA discourse.’ Facts! - Divinity Original Sin 1 + Definitive Edition was a large success. - Divinity Original Sin 2 + Definitive Edition was a large success. - Both of these are very similar to Baldurs Gate 3 in format. Implications! Specialised Team People at the company are perfectly aligned with the game. This is the opposite of Arkane Austin working on a loot shooter. Better Hiring Game format, company history and IP will draw people to the company. They'll get, for the game they're making, the cream of the crop. The power of this can't be overstated. Strong cashflow Both prior games earned well, and will have a strong tail to their performance. This is especially so because they were self published. Lower cost of capital Games cost money. You need to get that money, and probably more than you've got in the bank. How do you do this? 1 - Raise it via taking on debt. Businesses operating in a low inflation environment that have a track record & strong fundamentals will be able to access less expansive money. Here's a quick example. £300,000 over 5 years costs you £132,205. That's a STEAL compared to what publisher money will cost you. Speaking of which... 2 - Money from a publisher? That's going to be FAR more expensive, but the difference is, if the game makes no money, the publisher eats that. The bank will instead gobble up your assets! 3 - Equity investment. Give away a % in return for money. The stronger you are, the better the terms will be. Larian went into BG3 VERY strong. Any money they raised, be it bank, investor, whatever, was raised off the back of two total winner games AND in a period of time where debt was essentially free. These are very much in their favour! Anyway, my point is that once you're in a comfortable enough position to self publish, which they are, your ability to get more money and more favourable terms increases. Deadline Freedom ...as long as they don't run out of money! Publishers pay out based on milestones. Sometimes publisher set dates and milestones are not ideal. This can hurt games. At worst, you get all the things one worries about with AAA, but make no mistake, many smaller scale publishers are terrible. (Our game's publisher, Fellow Traveller, were terrific to work work - totally aligned with customers). Anyway, this meant they had less external bullshit to get in their way. OKAY THEN. That's it for this post. Just some thoughts and illustrative examples that I think will be useful. I am, of course, not claiming they got a bank loan lol, just making the point that being in a strong position reduces the cost of raising money. Money follows money. buy the pale beyond on steam pls /dab