Baldur's Gate 3 Devs "In Discussions" With Microsoft Over Naughty Screenshot Bans

05.01.2024 - 15:03 / thegamer.com / Michael Douse

A few days ago, we reported on the Xbox player who got hit with a year-long ban for recording gameplay footage in Baldur's Gate 3. Since all captures are uploaded to Xbox's servers, the contents of these screenshots and videos are moderated, banning inappropriate material. Turns out, Baldur's Gate 3's sex scenes are considered inappropriate, resulting in the player's ban.

Since the story spread online, Xbox has unbanned the player, but the question remains - are we safe to record Baldur's Gate 3's romance scenes? Well, the game's developer, Larian, wants this clarified too and is in "discussions" with Microsoft to resolve this issue.

As reported by Eurogamer, this update comes from Michael Douse, Larian's head of publishing. "We’ve seen the reports that some players got banned or otherwise faced issues on Xbox having uploaded screenshots/videos of their ‘gameplay content’," says Douse. "We’re in discussion with Microsoft, and we’re looking into it. Annoying and uncool."

It certainly is annoying and uncool. Before the case got widespread attention, the Xbox user had already appealed the ban and was told it was being upheld. It's very likely this wouldn't have changed if it wasn't for the Baldur's Gate fanbase sharing the story far and wide. So, while the devs sort it out with Microsoft, it might be best to avoid capturing any footage of Baldur's Gate 3's sex scenes, so you don't have to go through the appeals process too.

There should be a way around this, particularly since we haven't seen this happen on PlayStation 5. Forcing players to turn nudity off isn't much of a solution either - the game is already rated 18, I think we can handle some private parts. Especially when Larian went to the effort of adding in dick physics, it would be rude not to make the most of them.

We're yet to get an update from Microsoft on the matter, so it remains to be seen if it can bend the rules this time around. After all, it would be pretty odd for the studio to be okay with selling the game on its storefront, but draw the line at players sharing screenshots from it.

That said, this is hardly the only Baldur's Gate 3-related issue that Microsoft has on its hands. As we've reported over the past few weeks, players are losing save data on the platform, seemingly due to a firmware issue on Xbox's end. We're still waiting for this will be addressed, but in the meantime, Larian suggests setting up cross-platform saves so your campaigns are backed up somewhere.