Games

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Baldur's Gate 3 has been a huge success since it was launched last year

John Mulligan

The holding company for Belgian-controlled games studio Larian, which runs its revenue through its Dublin arm, posted a €249m pre-tax profit last year as the major success of its Baldur’s Gate 3 title supercharged its sales.

The company, which was founded by chief executive Swen Vincke in 1996, operates studios in cities including Dublin, Ghent, Warsaw and Quebec.

Mr Vincke owns virtually all of the ordinary shares in the holding company, but a unit of Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent – which owns major stakes in Fortnite owner Epic Games and other gaming ventures – also has a large chunk of preference shares in the firm.

The Tencent division, Tencent Cloud Europe, has been an investor in Larian for a number of years.

Accounts just filed for Larian Group Holdings in Ireland show that its revenue soared to €427m last year, from €22.7m in 2022.

The bumper profit it recorded last year compared with a €214,000 loss the holding company made the year before.

Its turnover and profits fluctuate over the lifetime of its games titles and their development.

Badur’s Gate 3, based on Dungeons and Dragons, has been the most successful of the company’s titles to date, selling around 15 million copies. It gave the holding company the financial muscle to pay a €28m dividend this year.

Launched last year, the title wasn’t initially expected to achieve the level of sales that it did.

The game had been in development for years and came to the market in August last year. It won numerous industry awards.

“We’re in the luxurious position now that we can pick our own destiny and our own path, which is really cool,” Mr Vincke told video game website IGN in September.

“So I hope we can sustain that,” he said, adding that he has two main goals for the studio. “Being able to make things we like to make and making sure that it’s sustainable so we can continue doing so.”

Swen Vincke (centre with arm raised) and the Larian Studio team with the Best Game Award for Baldur's Gate 3 at the BAFTA Games Awards 2024 in London last April. Photo: Getty

The intellectual property for Baldur’s Gate is owned by a company called Wizards of the Coast, which itself is owned by games company Hasbro.

Releasing full-year results for 2023 earlier this year, Hasbro said revenue at Wizards of the Coast rose 10pc in the year, driven by increased licensed digital gaming revenue from Baldur’s Gate 3 and another title by a different studio.

Baldur’s Gate 3 contributed $90m in revenue to the Hasbro unit for the year.

But Mr Vincke said last March that Larian would be ending its partnership with Wizards of the Coast, meaning that no new Baldur’s Gate game is in development, although the studio is working on other projects.

The success of Baldur’s Gate 3 has continued, however, meaning that Larian’s financial performance this year is also likely to be strong.

Larian’s publishing director, Michael Douse, said this week that the performance of the game this year has exceeded that of 2023. It has 20pc more active daily users this year than last, he said in a post on X.

“I am also happy to announce we have achieved one more sale in the Holy See, the Vatican, itself,” he added.