Baldur's Gate 3 Developers Hid a Release Secret in Plain Sight
Jul 11, 2025
The date to launch Baldur's Gate 3 was rather out in the open from the start, with the top person at Larian Studios writing it down on a whiskey bottle five years back. One of the movers and shakers of 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 took its time coming out after the game's early play time in the year 2020. Yet the Larian Studios had set a date way before—and they stuck to it!
It was loved by audiences and critics alike on launch, with more and more people playing it ever since. Its work started between late 2016 and early 2017 under subtitles before it was announced to the world in 2019. It went into early play in October 2020, allowing fans to contribute to shaping its story and depth of play, and was finally released in August 2023 after almost seven years. Larian used the Divinity 4.0 tech tool on top of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th rules, fleshing out the game to include turn-based combat, an extensive storyline with different paths, dialogue, and multiplayer. It ended up being a top seller, having hit 10 million copies plus.
Throughout the protracted development of BG3, no one uncovered any major secrets. It was Larian Studios' publishing head, Michael Douse, who infamously scribbled on a whiskey bottle in a bar with one novel detail: the game's release date. As Douse recounted on his Twitter account, he had a bender at a bar, wrote "Baldur's Gate 3 release date on rear" on a bottle, and left it there.
Looking back, Douse seems amused by it all, saying it was funny but didn't break any laws. He further quipped that it felt nice to return to the bar after "5 years sipping from the bottle of myths." After that, he did not care how the rest of his tweets would be received by the world, and so he added, "Maybe I did it again? Who knows?" While that does not sound shocking, there is strong coverage hinting towards the next project that is being created by the team in charge of Baldur's Gate 3.
Perhaps it would be best to keep your eyes peeled for wherever Douse decides to sprinkle some cleverly disguised clues about new games.
Almost two years past its launch, Baldur's Gate 3 rolled out Patch 8 in April, its last major content add. This update brought in 12 new subclasses, Photo Mode, and full play across PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation, letting players keep enjoying this well-loved RPG.
