CDPR Loves Baldur’s Gate 3, But It Is Not Copying It
Baldur’s Gate 3 has been crowned one of the best PC games around and with good reason. It brought classic style CRPG design back into the spotlight and reminded players how fun it can be when a game reacts to almost everything you do. Wild choices, chaotic plans, and stories that feel personal have made it a modern classic.
CD Projekt Red has definitely noticed. Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski called Baldur’s Gate 3 an inspiration in an interview with PC Gamer. He praised how Larian Studios built a world where you can interact with almost anything and the story spins out in surprising ways.
But even with that admiration, CD Projekt Red is not planning to pivot into making its own Baldur’s Gate style game.
Nowakowski explained that while Baldur’s Gate 3 gave the studio plenty to think about, it is not the template for their future projects. Instead, CDPR wants to keep building on what it already does best. Think The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 rather than a direct dive into classic party based CRPG territory.
In his words, the studio is still sticking to what was in The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. At the same time, they do not want to just make another one of those games with nicer graphics and call it a day.
The takeaway is simple. CDPR respects Baldur’s Gate 3, but it wants to follow its own path rather than chase someone else’s formula.
Innovation Without Losing The Witcher And Cyberpunk DNA
If CD Projekt Red is not going to copy Larian’s style, what is it going to do next? That is where things get mysterious.
Nowakowski made it clear they want to innovate. He just was not ready to reveal how. No feature lists, no screenshots, no big design reveals yet. For now, the studio is talking philosophy rather than specifics.
Here is what we can infer from his comments.
Expect more big open worlds like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 rather than a top down tactical CRPG.
Story and player choice will still be important, but they will show up in a way that feels true to CDPR’s style instead of mimicking Larian.
The team is looking at how Baldur’s Gate 3 handles world interaction and reactivity and using that as inspiration without lifting it wholesale.
Nowakowski was pretty direct about the differences. He said CD Projekt Red is definitely not going to make a game like Larian did. That sort of game is what Larian excels at. CDPR would rather learn from certain ideas than try to out Larian Larian.
One of those ideas is how much the game world responds to you. In Baldur’s Gate 3, tossing items around, experimenting with skills in weird ways, and taking odd social approaches often leads to surprising results. Nowakowski admitted that this kind of deep world interaction is inspiring for the team.
It sounds like the future Witcher and Cyberpunk projects could aim to be more reactive and playful, while still feeling like big cinematic RPGs instead of throwback CRPGs.
No New Spinoff Era, Just Core Pillar Games
CD Projekt Red has experimented with different formats before. The Witcher universe alone has seen card battlers and story driven side games. Gwent turned a beloved in game distraction into a full title, and Thronebreaker mixed card combat with a narrative focused campaign.
Fans who enjoyed those might be wondering if the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 could push CDPR to try more side projects and experimental titles.
For now, the answer seems to be no.
Nowakowski explained that at some point the company decided its in house team needed to focus on what he called the key pillar games. In normal language that means the mainline Witcher and Cyberpunk style blockbuster RPGs, not smaller spinoffs.
The door is not completely closed. He did leave a little space for that to change in the future. But based on how the studio is structured right now, they would rather keep their main developers tied to the big flagship projects.
That choice lines up with how long and complex games like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 have become. Building giant open worlds with detailed stories and strong visuals eats an incredible amount of development time and talent.
So do not expect a flood of side experiments from CDPR in the near future. The energy is pointed at the next major Witcher and Cyberpunk journeys.
Given their track record, that is still exciting. Cyberpunk 2077 took a while to find its footing after launch, but with updates and the Phantom Liberty expansion it eventually landed in a much better place. The Witcher 3 has long been regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made, the kind of game people replay years later.
With Baldur’s Gate 3 raising the bar for reactivity and role playing freedom, the big question is how CD Projekt Red will respond within its own style. The studio is clearly watching, clearly impressed, and clearly determined to evolve rather than repeat itself.
We might not know the exact shape of the next Witcher or Cyberpunk game yet, but one thing is clear. CDPR is not chasing trends. It is trying to build the next generation of its own formula while keeping an eye on what makes games like Baldur’s Gate 3 so special.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/baldurs-gate-3-is-an-inspiration-for-cd-projekt-but-its-all-in-on-big-open-worlds-we-are-definitely-not-going-to-make-a-game-like-larian-did/
