Sabotage or Slip-up by Interplay? Chris Avellone on the "accounting mistake" that doomed Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound

Sabotage or Interplay's screw-up? Chris Avellone on the "accounting mistake" that doomed Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound

Chris Avellone spent a long session on the TKs-Mantis YouTube channel—largely talking Fallout—but he sidetracked into the story of Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, the Black Isle/Interplay title announced in 2002.

He pins the cancellation on an "accounting mistake," calling it "very suspicious on Interplay’s part", and adds "I'm almost certain the payment was made to the wrong recipient." That accusation hangs in the air; it doesn't feel like the tidy explanation a company press release would offer.

Interplay was already in bad shape financially. The fallout included losing the Dungeons & Dragons license, killing Baldur's Gate III, staff cuts at Black Isle, and shunting remaining people onto Van Buren — the unreleased Fallout 3; e.g., what might have been continuity of work turned into a scramble and then silence.

By December 2003 that scramble ended: Van Buren was shelved, Black Isle folded, and from the rubble a new team eventually formed Obsidian — not quite a clean rebirth, more like survivors regrouping.

The day Baldur's Gate III was canceled, I knew Van Buren wouldn't make it. Intentions and long hours meant nothing if management was going to pull the plug — and they did, in December 2003 [Avellone mentioned 2008 twice during the interview—probably confused].