Baldur's Gate 3's developers at Larian Studios have made a whole load of changes to the RPG since its release in response to fan feedback, and Karlach's improved, final ending was no exception, publishing director Michael Douse clarifies.
Karlach actor Samantha Béart recently spoke to PC Gamer in an interview, in which they mentioned that "fans had no influence" on them returning for the improved ending, which was added in a post-launch patch. They mentioned that Baldur's Gate 3 was initially set to clash with the release of Bethesda's space-faring RPG Starfield, before the D&D romp ended up being brought forward by a month, and noted that "I don't think we expected people to rush to the end as quickly as they did." Ultimately, they said, the improved ending was "very much planned."
Now though, Douse has put out a post on Twitter "clarifying that Karlach's final ending was indeed in response to fan feedback, with conversations starting around August 2023."
Furthermore, he adds: "Karlach's writer cares deeply about the character and her fans. We released a month early because we always aim for a blue-ocean release."
He doesn't mention Starfield by name, but Larian was previously very open about it being "an extremely busy period for RPGs" when moving forward Baldur's Gate 3's launch, noting that "we had new Zelda, then Diablo for the first time in something like a decade, with Starfield and Cyberpunk’s releases coming up as well."
Given all the awards Baldur's Gate 3 went on to win that year, including the prestigious Game of the Year accolade at The Game Awards, I'm sure most would argue that it ended up being most players' favorite RPG between it and Starfield anyway, but Larian could never have known that at the time.
