Divinity: Original Sin 2 success makes Mac release strong possibility

Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site] left Early Access less than a week ago and sales figures have been very good. Those are the kind of figures, Larian CEO Swen Vincke tells me, that he'd been hoping for "by Christmas". The game is only available for Windows at the moment and during the Early Access period, the studio stated that, "A decision on other platforms will not be made until after the full release." With that full release now behind us, I asked if the strong sales made support for new platforms more likely. Short answer: "yes". Longer answers on that and other matters below.

Larian started work on Original Sin 2 using the engine that ran the Enhanced Edition of its predecessor, and that version was ported to consoles as well as Mac, Linux and Windows. It always seemed likely that similar support would arrive for the sequel at some point, but perhaps due to delays to the Linux version of the original game, no firm promises have been made this time around. But in response to a question about whether the sales success made ports more likely, Vincke told me:

"Yes. We deliberately focused on the gameplay of the Windows PC version first because it was such a complicated game to make and we didn't want to lose time on the inevitable additional hassle cross-platform development brings with it."

We think Divinity: Original Sin 2 is superb so its popularity seems well-earned, but given how difficult it can be to stand out in such a crowded market, I asked Vincke if he thought the Early Access period and Kickstarter had helped the game to build an audience.

"Yes, I think so. Our players have been very vocal during development and because of them the game became a lot better. I imagine they talked to their friends about the game and that as a result some of those friends may have given it a shot. From there on I guess it snowballed.

"We learnt from D:OS 1 that there was a market big enough to support this type of game. So we figured that if we would make a game that improved on the original and show it to as many people as possible, that would get some attention. That’s where the Kickstarter and Early Access helped us a lot. A lot of people discovered the game already prior to release so on release date they could tell the others about their experience."

Original Sin 1 sales are now "close to 2 million (console included)" but it took a few months to reach the sales figures the sequel has already hit. Kickstarter and Early Access may have helped, but Vincke says there's no magic formula, and that's no bad thing.

"There are so many way of making games and luckily for players everyone does it in a different way. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to making games and sometimes a game design that is seen as a total failure by many may contain the seeds of the next big thing. That’s one of the things that is so cool about game development."

We're still exploring every corner of the game and also looking to build some adventures of our own in the GM mode. Currently trying to decide if Horace is an end-boss or potential party member.