Larian Studios, the developer behind Baldur’s Gate 3, is facing allegations involving sexual harassment and fascism and backlash over its hiring practices.
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is facing a wave of serious allegations from former developers and game writers, with claims ranging from sexual harassment and tolerance of extremist views in the workplace to exploitative hiring practices. The allegations have circulated primarily on Blue Sky and have led to scrutiny of the studio’s internal culture.
One former developer, posting under the name Hash Bandicoot, alleged that Larian leadership failed to address what they described as openly fascist behavior within the studio. According to them, one engineer became radicalized during the COVID period and later returned to the office espousing far-right talking points. “Next time we saw him he was watching Tim Pool videos in office and telling us about ‘cultural marxism’ at work drinks,” they wrote, adding that the individual eventually formed a small group that shared similar views.
The developer claimed multiple staff members raised concerns directly with studio head Swen Vincke, allegedly telling him, “Hey, this guy is a weirdo fascist. He’s making everyone uncomfortable. He’s at odds with the team’s values.” Vincke’s reported response, according to the post, was: “He’s invaluable to the team, it’s too hard to replace him this close to release.” Hash Bandicoot further alleged that this decision allowed a hostile environment to persist, particularly for marginalized employees, stating that Larian was willing to “profit off the cachet of making a ‘woke’ game while letting bigots endanger minorities in his studio.”
The most severe allegation involves sexual assault. Hash Bandicoot, who identifies as a trans woman, described an incident shortly after coming out at work involving a colleague. They alleged that “sexual harassment afficionado Felix Pedulla (current CDPR employee)” made a comment about their body and then “to ‘confirm’ something grabs my crotch in the middle of the office.” The post emphasizes that this account reflects their personal allegation and that they felt reporting it was futile due to a perceived pattern of protecting “important” staff.
Separate but related criticism has emerged around Larian’s hiring practices, particularly in narrative roles. Writer Zoe Quinn stated that while they were recruited, they were put off by what they described as an unpaid, labor-intensive writing test, calling Larian “a ‘do an unpaid writing test where you have to also make it playable’ company.” Quinn also criticized the studio’s embrace of generative AI while downplaying remote work.
Narrative designer Bruno Dias echoed these concerns, calling Larian’s hiring process “an open secret in the industry,” citing “insane amounts of unpaid work in ‘writing tests,’ excessive numbers of interviews, months and months of back and forth.” Writer Cat Manning similarly remarked that the studio had “wasted literally thousands of people’s hours on unpaid writing tests,” adding that many avoided speaking publicly in hopes the company would improve.
