There will likely be only one infinity engine game produced after Siege of Dragonspear. Below are the documented reasons for each case.
1. Adventure Z:
We know from the devs that Beamdog's Adventure Z is up next and that it will be a departure from previous games and that it will involve sharks somehow.
Given the description I highly doubt that this will be an infinity engine game. An underwater D&D adventure game would be new and unprecedented, but probably too radical a departure from what the infinity engine has delivered before.
Given Trent Oster's bad experience with Nintendo, my first guess is that this adventure z game involving sharks is more likely a mobile phone game than a console game. PC/Mac/Linux possible if the design makes sense for it.
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine
2. Baldur's Gate 3 and other Infinity Engine Intellectual Properties:
The siegeofdragonspear.com FAQ states:
Q: Why didn't you make this expansion in a new engine instead of the Infinity Engine?
We wanted to create a cohesive, old-school gaming experience that meshes with the parent games, and we wanted to bring people the experiences that only the Infinity Engine offers.
The devs are already defending their engine choice before the game is even released. This is an indication that the devs have long been thinking about a new game engine and are only using the infinity engine for siege of dragonspear for ease of use and continuity's sake.
The faq mentions that BG:SoD is not Baldur's Gate 3 and other interviews confirm Beamdog's interest in making BG3. Wizards of the Coast has incentives to license games in in its current edition:5e The infinity engine was built for 2e and contains that ruleset's baggage. Why garner additional interest for a brand new game in a deprecated ruleset?
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine
3. Icewind Dale II Enhanced Edition:
Trent Oster said:
"The move to 3rd Edition rules would invalidate all the character classes and require a pretty thorough rework of the entire game to bring in the features from our Infinity Plus Engine. At minimum, nightmares abound."
You can clearly see Trent's thoughts as a manager here. Why go through a lot of effort to work on brand new enhancements to an engine that can only benefit one game? That's time and money that doesn't have as much return on a Baldur's Gate compatible game. Why invest into a likely nightmare?
Icewind Dale II did not have as many sales as Icewind Dale. Take a look at these recent Amazon.com prices of the original games. Icewind Dale is more popular than Icewind Dale II.
[spoiler]![image]( "source: imgur.com")
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Why invest in a nightmare that will catch fewer sales?
The alternative would be to convert IWD2 to 2e, but that would anger people who preferred the 3e ruleset of IWD2. And go against Beamdog's current practice of minimal changes to games.
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine, Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition = not happening
4. Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition:
Amber Scott said:
Torment has different engine features such as running which would need to be handled.
In order to bring the Baldur's Gate Enhancements, the engine would need to be converted to the BGEE one, but Torment was designed for single player and it shows. Having multiple Nameless ones show up at the beginning of the story would be weird story-wise. Having fully alive Multiplayer companions in the starting area wouldn't make sense in the story and would diminish the nameless one. A Kensai Half-Orc would trounce the Nameless One's combat abilty and a Sorceror at the beginning would be insulting towards the Nameless One's inability to become a Mage immediately and instead requiring several tasks first.
Unlike in BGEE, where the protagonist starts out as any class and race of choice and with Class Kits, Barbarian, Sorceror, Monk, and Half-Orc from Throne of Bhaal being available in BG1 for a long time through BGTuTu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy mods, the same cannot be said for Torment: To add any other classes requires a rewriting of the game. To add any kits requires a rewriting of the game.
The Planescape setting was discontinued upon the introduction of 3rd edition over 15 years ago. Wizards of the coast has little incentive to generate interest in a setting that isn't being supported. Even though Baldur's Gate is 2E, Forgotten Realms still maintains great popularity and is still producing game manuals and novels.
The Torment Trademark is owned by the producer's of the spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Torment: Tides of Numenera
"The applications were both filed by Roxy Friday LLC, a company previously linked to InXile Entertainment founder Brian Fargo, who also happened to be the head of Interplay during the development of Meantime and, presumably, at least some of Van Buren. Roxy Friday is also the company that filed for a Torment trademark in 2012, prior to the announcement of Torment: Tides of Numenera."
InExile may not want anything to spoil Torment: Tides of Numenera's release later this year or in coming years. After great sales, PIllars of Eternity set out to make an expansion. Torment; TIdes of Numenera would likely want to make an expansion if sales turn out good. Business-wise, why would they want a spoiler on the sales for their expansion either?
It may be a legal issue to sell an Enhanced Edition of Torment while another company owns it's copywrite. Even if not, there's still the chance of being sued anyway. The copywrite owners may demand a fee over use of the Torment name for a Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition
Why invest in a game that will have fewer features than Baldur's Gate & Icewind Dale, will require a lot of rework to be made viable, has more potential legal issues and fees associated with it, and had a bad sales record with the original game?
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine, Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition = not happening, Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition = not happening
5. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy
Trent Oster Stated:
"It all comes down to the terms of the business deal. We are on the hook for two products, BG:EE and BG2:EE. So for now, we make two products. Down the road we'll likely try to convince everyone to do a all in one version. Can't see this happening for a while though. With Atari's bankruptcy, all new ideas are on hold until it shakes out.
-Trent "
Phil Daigle Stated:
A chance to get Interplay to allow changes to existing content would finally mean that players can get get the feature they've wanted for years: Keep your party from BG1 through the entire Bhaalspawn Saga and alter the start of BG2, integrated BG1 NPC project mod, integrated Ascension mod as well as other Enhancements such as 10 person parties, easy moddability for creating new classes, dual classes, and multiclasses, brand new massive quests, new areas, and more!
Even if Interplay never reneges on its insistence to no changes to existing content, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Trilogy will still likely be made, new quests and areas not within BGEE, BGSoD, or BG2EE would give more reason to buy the combined game as would the integration of the new SoD NPCs into BG2EE. Engine features such as 10 person parties, moddable more single, dual, and multiclasses, subraces, and more could be added.
The main obstacles to an official Enhanced Edition Trilogy game would be money and time. If Siege of Dragonspear sells well, it paves the way for an eventual Enhanced Edition Trilogy game. Timewise and moneywise, it would make sense to wait some years after the release of Siege of Dragonspear to release this game after sales have died down somewhat.
6. Prediction:
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy will be released some years after a successful Siege of Dragonspear game release. After that, there will never be another Infinity Engine game commercially produced.
1. Adventure Z:
We know from the devs that Beamdog's Adventure Z is up next and that it will be a departure from previous games and that it will involve sharks somehow.
Given the description I highly doubt that this will be an infinity engine game. An underwater D&D adventure game would be new and unprecedented, but probably too radical a departure from what the infinity engine has delivered before.
Given Trent Oster's bad experience with Nintendo, my first guess is that this adventure z game involving sharks is more likely a mobile phone game than a console game. PC/Mac/Linux possible if the design makes sense for it.
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine
2. Baldur's Gate 3 and other Infinity Engine Intellectual Properties:
The siegeofdragonspear.com FAQ states:
Q: Why didn't you make this expansion in a new engine instead of the Infinity Engine?
We wanted to create a cohesive, old-school gaming experience that meshes with the parent games, and we wanted to bring people the experiences that only the Infinity Engine offers.
The devs are already defending their engine choice before the game is even released. This is an indication that the devs have long been thinking about a new game engine and are only using the infinity engine for siege of dragonspear for ease of use and continuity's sake.
The faq mentions that BG:SoD is not Baldur's Gate 3 and other interviews confirm Beamdog's interest in making BG3. Wizards of the Coast has incentives to license games in in its current edition:5e The infinity engine was built for 2e and contains that ruleset's baggage. Why garner additional interest for a brand new game in a deprecated ruleset?
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine
3. Icewind Dale II Enhanced Edition:
Trent Oster said:
"The move to 3rd Edition rules would invalidate all the character classes and require a pretty thorough rework of the entire game to bring in the features from our Infinity Plus Engine. At minimum, nightmares abound."
You can clearly see Trent's thoughts as a manager here. Why go through a lot of effort to work on brand new enhancements to an engine that can only benefit one game? That's time and money that doesn't have as much return on a Baldur's Gate compatible game. Why invest into a likely nightmare?
Icewind Dale II did not have as many sales as Icewind Dale. Take a look at these recent Amazon.com prices of the original games. Icewind Dale is more popular than Icewind Dale II.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Why invest in a nightmare that will catch fewer sales?
The alternative would be to convert IWD2 to 2e, but that would anger people who preferred the 3e ruleset of IWD2. And go against Beamdog's current practice of minimal changes to games.
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine, Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition = not happening
4. Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition:
Amber Scott said:
The original Planescape Torment was not a great seller despite having a cult following. Much of the problems that affect Icewind Dale 2 affect Planescape Torment even more. Outdated cutscenes, ugly brown and gray backgrounds, completely different icons: spells, items, paperdolls,It's pretty much a maybe. A lot of people in the office (including me) would LOVE to a Planescape update. It's one of my favorite games of all time. Trent has said "we'd like to, there are issues to work out first but we're interested" (I paraphrase). So nothing is officially in the works but maybe, someday, hopefully.
Torment has different engine features such as running which would need to be handled.
In order to bring the Baldur's Gate Enhancements, the engine would need to be converted to the BGEE one, but Torment was designed for single player and it shows. Having multiple Nameless ones show up at the beginning of the story would be weird story-wise. Having fully alive Multiplayer companions in the starting area wouldn't make sense in the story and would diminish the nameless one. A Kensai Half-Orc would trounce the Nameless One's combat abilty and a Sorceror at the beginning would be insulting towards the Nameless One's inability to become a Mage immediately and instead requiring several tasks first.
Unlike in BGEE, where the protagonist starts out as any class and race of choice and with Class Kits, Barbarian, Sorceror, Monk, and Half-Orc from Throne of Bhaal being available in BG1 for a long time through BGTuTu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy mods, the same cannot be said for Torment: To add any other classes requires a rewriting of the game. To add any kits requires a rewriting of the game.
The Planescape setting was discontinued upon the introduction of 3rd edition over 15 years ago. Wizards of the coast has little incentive to generate interest in a setting that isn't being supported. Even though Baldur's Gate is 2E, Forgotten Realms still maintains great popularity and is still producing game manuals and novels.
The Torment Trademark is owned by the producer's of the spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Torment: Tides of Numenera
"The applications were both filed by Roxy Friday LLC, a company previously linked to InXile Entertainment founder Brian Fargo, who also happened to be the head of Interplay during the development of Meantime and, presumably, at least some of Van Buren. Roxy Friday is also the company that filed for a Torment trademark in 2012, prior to the announcement of Torment: Tides of Numenera."
InExile may not want anything to spoil Torment: Tides of Numenera's release later this year or in coming years. After great sales, PIllars of Eternity set out to make an expansion. Torment; TIdes of Numenera would likely want to make an expansion if sales turn out good. Business-wise, why would they want a spoiler on the sales for their expansion either?
It may be a legal issue to sell an Enhanced Edition of Torment while another company owns it's copywrite. Even if not, there's still the chance of being sued anyway. The copywrite owners may demand a fee over use of the Torment name for a Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition
Why invest in a game that will have fewer features than Baldur's Gate & Icewind Dale, will require a lot of rework to be made viable, has more potential legal issues and fees associated with it, and had a bad sales record with the original game?
Conclusion: Adventure Z = not infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 3 = not infinity engine, Other IP = not infinity engine, Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition = not happening, Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition = not happening
5. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy
Trent Oster Stated:
"It all comes down to the terms of the business deal. We are on the hook for two products, BG:EE and BG2:EE. So for now, we make two products. Down the road we'll likely try to convince everyone to do a all in one version. Can't see this happening for a while though. With Atari's bankruptcy, all new ideas are on hold until it shakes out.
-Trent "
Phil Daigle Stated:
A game combining all the Bhaalspawn Saga into one game is something that the developers have repeatedly supported doing. Integration into one game is something that has long been proven with the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod. BGEE and BG2EE both use the same engine with the same feature set, so integration is very viable.2. Any chance in the future or an Enhanced Edition Trilogy game that combines bgee, bgSoD, and bg2ee in one game?
Yes, we would love to do that. Right now there are certain technical limitations for iOS and Android that don't allow for such a colossal game, but eventually that will change. If all else fails it could come exclusively to desktop.
We don't have a specific time frame to do build that, but it's something we've held in mind as a long-term goal since 2012. If it makes sense and we can do it, we will.
A chance to get Interplay to allow changes to existing content would finally mean that players can get get the feature they've wanted for years: Keep your party from BG1 through the entire Bhaalspawn Saga and alter the start of BG2, integrated BG1 NPC project mod, integrated Ascension mod as well as other Enhancements such as 10 person parties, easy moddability for creating new classes, dual classes, and multiclasses, brand new massive quests, new areas, and more!
Even if Interplay never reneges on its insistence to no changes to existing content, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Trilogy will still likely be made, new quests and areas not within BGEE, BGSoD, or BG2EE would give more reason to buy the combined game as would the integration of the new SoD NPCs into BG2EE. Engine features such as 10 person parties, moddable more single, dual, and multiclasses, subraces, and more could be added.
The main obstacles to an official Enhanced Edition Trilogy game would be money and time. If Siege of Dragonspear sells well, it paves the way for an eventual Enhanced Edition Trilogy game. Timewise and moneywise, it would make sense to wait some years after the release of Siege of Dragonspear to release this game after sales have died down somewhat.
6. Prediction:
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy will be released some years after a successful Siege of Dragonspear game release. After that, there will never be another Infinity Engine game commercially produced.
[/spoiler]As I said, this is going to be an ambitious run, i.e. one that includes metagamimg. However, whether I want it or not, I always incorporate some roleplaying in my gaming, so it would be foolish to expect myself to behave differently this time. I have particular difficulty doing evil things with good characters, much more so than doing good things with evil characters. Therefore Norgath's Lawful Evil alignment is convenient. It allows him to do evil things (such as the 
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