I wonder if they're going to offer physical copies of the game through some sort of crowdfunding.

They've literally said nothing about dates, so guessing 2021 is just as much a pull out of nowhere as thinking it'll come out in 2020 or 2022. The only correct answer is "we have no idea."

Incorrect typing and wrong studio. I really have to quit drinking! :)

If 2 is the direct continuation of 1, with the same PC, you'd expect that 3 is the third part of the story, not something completely new. "Baldur's Gate: [Subtitle]" would make more sense (but possibly sell less copies?). Not that I really care a lot.

Why? GTA5 is just a game, no relation to previous games. It’s not even the 5th game in the GTA series? GTA 1, 2, 3, vice city, San Andreas, 4, 4. Numerical increments do not indicate story position or continuity, just take beamdog money of destiny to push political beliefs. That was squeezed nicely between 1 and 2, just where it was not needed.

Because contrary to GTA or other series there is continuity between BG and BG2. I'm not saying it's unheard of. In fact, there are several series where fans complain that e.g. part 3 has few in common with the previous games anymore. But I guess it's still better than naming the new game just "Baldur's Gate" (like Tomb Raider, Thief etc.). ;P

Just because there was continuity between 1 and 2 15 years ago doesn't mean 3 will follow suit. I'd ditch any expectations you have about this game, and not just in story. It could be very different from 1 and 2 in a bunch of ways. It's a big team, it's not going to be like Pillars of Eternity.

Oh, I don't have any expectations with regards to the story. In fact, this discussion started when I said I see no need to continue the story from BG2, and Sarafan already confirmed that it will be a completely new story. I just said I find it a bit inappropriate to add a 3 to the classic 1+2 when 1+2 tell a complete connected story and 3 is something entirely different. Basically, just like you said, I expect BG3 to be completely different from BG+BG2, so it would have made more sense to give it a new name (but I understand why they didn't do it, of course). Anyway, it's not something I really care about a lot, just an observation.

I guess I'd have preferred Larian doing their own thing and not be bound by D&D, WOTC and Forgotten Realms lore, but I'm still mildly curious what they do with it. Mostly gameplaywise though, as I never perceived them as outstanding storytellers.

agreed...

I really enjoyed the BG series.

I'm really glad that Larian is doing this, and not some out-of-nowhere-gofundme studio; these days, I can't think of any other legit studio qualified to do this. I'm very optomistic of the end result.

Well, it’s not actually too far fetched to think it could be a sort of continuation. There were many bhaalspawn created, and only a few of them used in BG 1 and 2, so it could be the story of one them.
Conversely it could be something completely different and only linked by a location.
Or it could be a follow on or rewrite of Dark Alliance.
It will be quite interesting to see what they come up with.

Less than 5 years equals "soon".

We can try to predict the date however. Larian admitted that the game is in early phase of development. This means at least two years of development left. I agree however that this is more or less a guess.
What about Fallout for example? Fallout titles have numbers and separate stories. What's common is the setting in which the story takes place.
We haven't seen a lot of D&D games in the past few years. I think it's time for a big game based on this ruleset done by a good and distinguished studio.

Apart from Larian, Obsidian and inXile have the potential to bring us a good BG3 game.

Like I said, I don't find it weird that numbered titles have separate stories - there are countless examples for that, in fact I think most numbered series work like that. What I find weird is a trilogy (or series) where part of the titles are direct sequels, and other parts completely new stories with new characters. That would be like naming Mass Effect Andromeda Mass Effect 4 instead, even though it's not part of the trilogy. Name a bunch of series that did that if you want to convince me it's not a little bit weird. ;)

I don't mind another D&D game, I'm just uttering doubts that Larian is a good fit for working with such pre-defined settings including more or less serious lore and rigid conditions by WOTC. Just because a studio is great doesn't mean it's well suited for every task. But I wouldn't mind being proven wrong either.