GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Why Divinity: Original Sin's Enhanced Edition Was Free for Existing PC Owners

"[A]re we really going to charge them for a vastly enhanced edition of the game, even though there’s a lot of investment that went into it?"

15 Comments

The Enhanced Edition of Divinity: Original Sin features a substantial number of improvements and new features. The PC version was given away for free to those who already owned the existing game, despite it arguably being large enough to justify a standard release. That's because the people at Larian Studios are not "fans of DLC and upgrades," prompting them to instead offer a free upgrade in return for the goodwill.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Development on the Enhanced Edition began immediately after the June 2014 launch of Original Sin, with 40 people working full-time on it, Larian CEO Swen Vincke told Gamasutra. This ran up until the recent release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, and it continues now as Larian works on patches. The business arrangement for the console versions was different than the initial PC release; it worked with a publisher this time, which "gave [Larian] some freedom," Vincke said. "In that sense, we're sure that the bills are paid for development."

"You have to see that for us, this was a new game on console, then obviously you could reverse the port and bring it back to PC," he continued. "So we had to think about what to do for the existing customers who have already bought Original Sin. Those are the same guys who make a lot of stuff possible for us--so are we really going to charge them for a vastly enhanced edition of the game, even though there's a lot of investment that went into it?

"Since we already recuperated on the console market, we figured that would be too much, charging existing customers full price. We're not really fans of DLC and upgrades, so you know what? We just made this for a new audience [on consoles], and we'll also give it to our fans, and hopefully they'll appreciate it, play it again, and help us out when the next game comes out."

You could say that fans already have done so: Larian turned to Kickstarter to help fund additional content for Divinity: Original Sin II, due out in 2016. Much like the crowdfunding campaign for the first Original Sin, this one was also a success, raising more than $2 million.

When asked what prompted Larian to develop a console version of the first game, Vincke said the studio was unsure that a market even existed for it.

"The fact that nobody did it was pretty much the reason," he explained. "We didn't know whether or not there was an audience for it. There was nobody else doing an RPG like this on console, so we figured there were people who liked 'traditional' RPGs, if you'd like to put it that way, that exist on PC. We thought if we made it for them, they might want to pick it up."

Original Sin II is being built using the same engine, making a console version of the game easier to facilitate if Larian chooses to make one. "[I]f we see it’s worthwhile, we'll be able to port it to consoles," Vincke said.

For more on Original Sin's Enhanced Edition, check out our chat with Vincke from earlier this year.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 15 comments about this story