Larian publishing chief aims to 'absolutely demolish' Steam with the studio's next release

Larian has some big aspirations for its next RPG, Divinity, which it hopes will surpass even the mighty Baldur's Gate 3. It will be "even larger" than BG3, with "deeper sequences of consequence," more interesting fail states, better character customization, and even more natural and complex NPC relationships. Given how good Baldur's Gate 3 was in all those regards, that's aiming very high indeed.

Larian publishing director Michael Douse is aiming even higher than that, though. He wants the launch of Divinity, when it happens, to utterly destroy Steam.

A little background to begin: Baldur's Gate 3 launched into early access in October 2020 and was an immediate hit—not without issues, but it laid a very strong foundation for the full game, and Larian's subsequent high-visibility development over the next few years built anticipation for the full release even higher. It reached the point that, when Baldur's Gate 3 hit 1.0, Steam felt the impact. It trembled; it shuddered; it wobbled; it didn't go down, but boy, it was shook.

Larian boss Swen Vincke actually apologized for the trouble—tongue in cheek, perhaps, but a nice gesture nonetheless.

You know who's not sorry? Douse. The only regret he has, apparently, is that Baldur's Gate 3 didn't leave a smouldering crater where Steam used to be, and by god, next time he wants to make sure.

"Walked past this in the office. Forgot this happened," Douse wrote on X, alongside an image of a report about Steam's troubles when BG3 hit early access. "At the time we even fact checked it with Valve.

"I hope we absolutely demolish it next time. You remember so little when doing so much."

Well! Them's fightin' words, although I'm obligated to say (just in case it needs to be said) that I don't think Douse is seriously wishing harm on Steam, just that he hopes Divinity will be a successful release. But if it does somehow "demolish" Steam? Yeah, that'll be a pretty funny bonus.

For those who haven't been following along with Divinity, I should also clarify that this demolition train isn't likely to be pulling into the station anytime soon. Divinity was announced with a hell of a trailer at the end of 2025, and like Baldur's Gate 3 the plan is to go with an early access release, but so far there's no sign of when that will be: BG3 went from initial reveal to early access launch in 16 months, so 2027 feels like a pretty decent maybe, but at this point it's anyone's guess.

(Here's that Divinity reveal trailer if you haven't seen it. Stick with it—trust me, it goes places.)

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