Josh Sawyer would like to make Pillars of Eternity 3, but only if he got a Baldur's Gate 3-sized budget

pcgamer.com:

I recently got around to playing Pentiment, and while I won't spoil the experience for anyone I will say, «Man. Wow. Holy cow,» as I stare off pensively into the distance. After contemplating the nature of existing for a few days, my main takeaway was that Obsidian should just give Josh Sawyer a few million dollars every five years or so, and tell him to come back when he's done.

But what would Sawyer do if he actually found himself in that position—or more specifically, the position of having as many million dollars and as much time as he wanted? In a wide-ranging interview with Touch Arcade he said he probably wouldn't make Pentiment 2, but he would make Pillars of Eternity 3—as long as someone was really ready to back up the money truck.

«I don’t think I would make Pentiment 2,» Sawyer said. «I really do feel very satisfied with that game. It’s not like I don’t wanna return to it ever, but I just did it, so I’d probably wait a little bit.

»I think if it truly was an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget was for [Pillars of Eternity 2:] Deadfire, which was not a whole lot and I have heard from multiple people what the budget was for Baldur’s Gate 3, and I’m not gonna talk about numbers, but if I got that budget, sure, I’ll make Pillars 3."

A touch of envy there, perhaps? The Pillars of Eternity RPGs are outstanding homages to the Infinity Engine RPGs of old—Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment—but there's no question that they lacked the financial backing and development time of Baldur's Gate 3. In fact, both games relied on crowdfunding: Pillars 1 on Kickstarter, and Pillars 2 on the now-defunct platform Fig. Frankly, I preferred them over the cinematic spectacle of