Developer Profile / Larian StudiosInterface
Developer Profile / Larian Studiost feels typical that this all comes
from little old Belgium; the
European nation plenty of us
pass through on our travails
across the continent, but not
necessarily the one many of us end up
staying in for any period of time. Or even
really thinking about. It’s just... Belgium,
you know? And yet it’s the seat of power
for much of the EU, it hosts NATO’s
European headquarters and – most
importantly – it’s the country from which
we’ve had one of the best, if not the best,
RPGs ever made. Little old Belgium,
you’re not just full of chips and old
statues, it seems.
Larian Studios came to be back in
1996, the brainchild of founder Swen
Vincke, and began life just as you’d
expect a celebrated role-playing game
studio would: with a Command &
Conquer-derived RTS. Alright, so the
studio did attempt to make something
resembling its contemporary output,
but was forced into making L.E.D.
Wars – a low budget C&C-alike with
hints of Total Annihilation sprinkled
on top – in order to prove its
development mettle. It made
the game, it did... well really,
who here had heard of it
before today? If you say
yes, you’re probably telling
porkies. Or you just really
love Belgian games.
Either way, it wasn’t
something that put
Larian on the map.
And that’s the
story here: no
single game forI
50 / wfmag.cc
A tale of slow-burn Belgian success
Larian Studios
Developer Profile