Larian Studios will not "participate in the exclusivity game" with Baldur's Gate III

Larian Studios will not "participate in the exclusivity game," its CEO Swen Vincke has said, clarifying confusion over whether the forthcoming Baldur's Gate III would exclusive to Google Stadia.

Destiny 2 aside, Larian's Baldur's Gate III was arguably the most striking game in the launch line-up for Google's streaming service. However, it was certainly the biggest new announcement, which caused some confusion as to whether the long-awaited sequel would be available on other platforms.

"There is no exclusive attachment to Stadia," Vincke told IGN. "It was important to us to tell our players 'we're not going to participate in the exclusivity game.'"

There are already store pages for Baldur's Gate III on Steam and GOG. There is no sign of the game on the Epic Games Store yet, but Larian has clarified to USGamer that this is not indicative of its release strategy.

In fact, the reason that Baldur's Gate was announced during yesterday's Stadia stream speaks to Larian's reluctance to play, "the exclusivity game." Vincke told IGN that he is "a believer" in Google's technology because it makes it easier for developers be completely platform agnostic.

"I believe that the game should adapt to the device, but that the device shouldn't matter when you play it," Vincke said. "That's literally what Stadia is doing also, so that's where that worked out well."

The Baldur's Gate series was created by Bioware in 1998, with the sequel following in 2000. It is one of the most admired RPG series in the history of the industry, and with its Divinity: Original Sin games, Larian Studios is now recognised as one of the current masters of the genre.