Baldur’s Gate 3 Could Add Splitscreen on Xbox Series S After Launch

By Sheena Vasani, a writer covering commerce, e-readers, and tech news. She previously wrote about everything from web development to AI at Inside.

This week, the two biggest role-playing games of the year are released in a head-to-head on rival console platforms. But only one of them is a console exclusive. Starfield was acquired by Microsoft along with its developer and publisher, Bethesda, in 2021, and will be released on Xbox and PC only. Baldur’s Gate 3 — which has already become an overnight sensation on PC, if you can say that about a game that spent three years in early access — is out now on PlayStation 5, but an Xbox version is still weeks or months away. And it could have been much longer.

With the recent compromise with Microsoft that will allow Larian Studios to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox Series X|S, the studio has now confirmed that the critically acclaimed RPG is expected to release on Xbox by the end of 2023.

Fans might not have to wait much longer.

With the recent compromise with Microsoft that will allow Larian Studios to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox Series X|S, the studio has now confirmed that the critically acclaimed RPG is expected to release on Xbox by the end of 2023.

Developer Larian Studios has revealed that Baldur’s Gate 3 will be making its way on to Xbox Series X/S some time between September and November. The RPG is making its way on to PS5 on September 6, while the PC version was released earlier this month.

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The Xbox Series S version of hit role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3 won't have split-screen when it launches later this year, but that's not to say it won't receive the feature after launch.

Last week, Xbox gamers found out they would get Baldur's Gate 3 this year after all. Previous news had pointed to the game being delayed to next year as developer Larian Studios tried to find a way to make the split-screen local co-op functionality work correctly on the Xbox Series S. That's the reason the game isn't launching on Xbox consoles alongside the PlayStation 5 launch (scheduled for September 6th).

Though it seemed for a while that Baldur’s Gate 3 might not be able to hit Xbox Series X/S util next year, Larian Studios recently confirmed that the acclaimed RPG will indeed be coming to Xbox in 2023, with splitscreen co-op not supported on Xbox Series S. The studio also confirmed that the game’s Xbox version will support cross-saves with PC, though Larian Studios’ director of publishing Michael Douse has since then clarified that that won’t be all.

Baldur's Gate III will be coming to Xbox consoles this year after all. In a tweet, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke confirmed that he and Xbox head Phil Spencer had found a solution to bring the critically acclaimed CRPG to Microsoft's current-gen consoles. There's one catch though: the game won't support split-screen co-op on the less-expensive Xbox Series S — a feature the developer has been struggling to enable for months now, thanks to the technical limitations of the console. In fact, to maintain parity of features between Baldur's Gate 3 on the Xbox Series S and X, Microsoft even sent engineers from their side to help out Larian.

Baldur’s Gates 3 has been a massive success on PC and it looks like the PlayStation 5 version will also be a big hit, but what about Xbox players? The good news is that the game is now confirmed for Series X|S, but with one caveat. The Series S version will not have split screen but will include cross-save with Steam.