Last month, Larian Studios presented console players of Divinity: Original Sin 2 with a special treat: an upgraded version of the game for PS5, Xbox Series, and delightfully, Nintendo Switch 2. But while Original Sin 2 has been on Nintendo's system since 2019, Larian's next game, Baldur's Gate 3, never made it to any Nintendo console. Why not? Well, Larian at least says it wasn't its decision.

In a Reddit AMA today conducted by various members of Larian, CEO Swen Vincke took a moment to answer a question about whether or not Baldur's Gate 3 for Nintendo Switch 2 was "even possible". Sadly, his answer wasn't a happy one: "We would have loved to but it's wasn't our decision to make."

Vincke is speaking in the past tense because officially, Larian is done with Baldur's Gate 3. It's still supporting the game with minor bug fixes, but there's no reason to expect the studio to do a whole new release on a new platform now, especially since it's moved on to a new Divinity game. That leaves Wizards of the Coast in charge of the future of Baldur's Gate 3, meaning a port isn't happening without its blessing.

Which seems to be what Vincke is implying here - that Larian would have done one, but Wizards for whatever reason decided not to. Wizards of the Coast declined to comment.

Which is a shame for Switch owners, because Baldur's Gate is a fantastic game. We gave it a 10/10 at launch, saying that "with crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs."

We covered other topics from Larian's AMA today, such as what happened to Wyll's storyline in Baldur's Gate 3 and how Larian will (or won't) use generative AI for Divinity.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Sims developer Maxis is kicking off the new year with an update on what its whole deal is, after plenty of rumors and concerns about the future of the franchise. Ans as a part of that, it seems to be teasing the "next evolution" of single-player PC and console The Sims games...even as its long-touted "next generation" of The Sims, Project Rene, is relegated to a mobile-only social spin-off.

This comes from a lengthy blog post on the EA website, in which Maxis speaks at length about its philosophy around The Sims in the coming year. Most of it is pretty mission statement-y, but in the middle, we get a glimpse of what's planned for the future of The Sims.

For three years now, Maxis has been teasing something called Project Rene. Initially billed as the future of The Sims that would exist across PC and mobile, EA nevertheless refused to call it The Sims 5. Since 2022, there have been multiple closed playtests, and the feedback has gradually soured as Project Rene increasingly started to look like a pretty basic mobile game. Meanwhile, while The Sims 4 community remains robust, there hasn't been much discussion on what The Sims 5 might look like, or if the console and PC base should even expect anything new at all. As recently as last August, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele insisted that it wouldn't be "player-friendly" to release one when the community had already invested so much time and money into The Sims 4.

Which is why the wording in this blog post is both exciting and nerve-wracking as a The Sims fan. The post separates out its plans for "The Sims" on PC and console, and Project Rene. For PC and console, Maxis reaffirms its commitment to new content for The Sims 4, and adds that "Single-player PC and console experiences will always be a part of our future, with more than half of our global development team dedicated to The Sims 4 and the next evolution. More news in the coming months!"

That wording, "the next evolution," is huge. While it's not exactly "The Sims 5," it's the first crumb we've gotten in years that we might see something like one eventually. What's even more promising is that EA is designating Project Rene as a social, multiplayer game that's mobile-first. That's disappointing for those who were hoping Project Rene would be an exciting new future, but it sounds like that's still going to exist in some fashion alongside whatever the actual new evolution is.

Still, Maxis has a rough road ahead. Miele is correct that one of the biggest issues with a new The Sims game is that players have spent tons of money already on expansion packs for The Sims 4, and historically brand new The Sims games have felt woefully feature incomplete when they launch with no such packs. That was the case with The Sims 4, which launched to relatively weak reviews as players adjusted to the shock of features they'd come to get used to - pets, interactive children, weather - suddenly gone, until a new paid expansion pack was released.

It would behoove Maxis to figure all this out, because The Sims 4 is over a decade old now, and starting to show its age. What's more, a number of potential competitors have come out of the woodwork in recent years, including Krafton's inZOI and the indie Paralives, both in early access.

The most recent The Sims 4 expansion pack was Adventure Awaits, which launched in October of last year.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.