After it launched, Baldur's Gate 3 hit a phenomenal 800,000 concurrent Steam players and received PC Gamer's highest review score in 16 years, but during its years in early access, it wasn't widely expected to be the next big thing. Take as an example this May 2022 document accidentally leaked by Microsoft as part of its lawsuit with the FTC which dismissed Baldur's Gate 3 as a «second-run Stadia PC RPG» that Microsoft figured it could get onto PC Game Pass for about $5 million.
Baldur’s Gate 3 set for a 2023 release on Xbox Series X|S
31.08.2023 - 10:55 / thesixthaxis.com / Phil Spencer / Swen Vincke / Xbox Series / Series X
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.
IGN asked Larian’s founder and game director Swen Vincke when Xbox fans could expect to play the hit RPG, and he said, “It’s 2023. And 2023 is narrowing, so it’s already pretty precise in my book. Between September and November… So, as fast as we can, honestly.”
Already out on PC and set to release on PS5 next week, Baldur’s Gate 3 for Xbox was put on hold as Larian struggled to meet a technical requirement set out by Microsoft for all games: feature parity between Xbox Series X and Series S. Baldur’s Gate 3 features splitscreen co-op for two players on PC and PS5 (in addition to four players online co-op), but while this would be possible on Series X, the lower-powered Series S was struggling. This forced Larian to pause development so they could focus on actually finishing the game, before revisiting their options on Xbox.
At Gamescom 2023 after the hugely successful PC release in August, a meeting between Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Vincke was able to get them an exception to this rule, allowing them to drop splitscreen for the Xbox Series S version of Baldur’s Gate 3 and implement it later on. While a slight shame for Series S owners, they will still be able to join friends through online co-op.
Larian is focussed right now on getting the PS5 version out of the door next week on 6th September, as well as delivering a second major patch to the game, addressing some more key weaknesses and bugs from the original release, but once the dust has settled, they’ll be able to return to the Xbox Series X|S version of the game.
The 2023 release target will be helped by the studio already having done a lot of the ground work for the Xbox version of the game. In fact, Vincke said, “So the Xbox Series X version was already in good shape last time I looked at it. So we’re just going to go through the motions, ‘Okay, what do we still need to do?’
“There’s a bunch of stuff that needs to happen to finalize it. But I think from a content point of view and from a technical point of view, we’re actually very close.”
This also applies to the game on Xbox Series S. “It was running already before, so it shouldn’t take that long. It doesn’t mean that we are not going to try to make it work also in splitscreen, because I mean as I said, the team continues to optimise for all platforms because we really want to hit 60fps across the board on everything.”
So, there might be few more months to wait for Xbox RPG fans to get their hands on Baldur’s Gate 3, but they can probably console themselves with their
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
![Xbox FTC leaks – the next-generation Xbox, mid-generation Xbox Series refresh, and more [Update] - gematsu.com - Usa - state California](https://gametalkz.com/storage/thumbs_400/img/2023/9/19/23256_dysd8.jpg "Xbox FTC leaks – the next-generation Xbox, mid-generation Xbox Series refresh, and more [Update] - gematsu.com - Usa - state California")
gematsu.com
19.09.2023 / 21:59
Xbox FTC leaks – the next-generation Xbox, mid-generation Xbox Series refresh, and more [Update]
Over the weekend, over 120 documents were published to the United States District Court Northern District of California’s files website pertaining to the Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corporation case regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
pcinvasion.com
06.09.2023 / 19:59
Larian Studios director confirms Baldur’s Gate 3 should come to Xbox between September and October 2023
PC and PlayStation gamers have had some time with the critically-acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3. Soon enough, Xbox gamers will join the party. In an exclusive interview through IGN with the Larian Studios director, the Baldur’s Gate 3 release on Xbox was confirmed to be between September and October 2023. Now the developers are in the final stages of optimization, and the release date for the Xbox version is imminent.
polygon.com
06.09.2023 / 17:45
Baldur’s Gate 3 just made the future of Xbox Series S a bit more uncertain
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.
thesixthaxis.com
31.08.2023 / 23:45
Baldur’s Gate 3 set for a 2023 release on Xbox Series X|S
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.
gamespot.com
31.08.2023 / 15:27
Here's When Baldur's Gate 3 Could Come To Xbox
Fans might not have to wait much longer.
gamingbolt.com
31.08.2023 / 02:59
Baldur’s Gate 3 Might Come to Xbox Series X/S Between September and November – Director
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.
ign.com
28.08.2023 / 16:35
Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox Series S Could Get Split-Screen After Launch
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.
gameranx.com
28.08.2023 / 16:27
Larian Confirms Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Coming To Xbox “This Year”
There has been no end to the Xbox drama in relation to Baldur’s Gate 3. With the platform getting cold-shouldered hard and its release date being sent into limbo long before the game was released on PC and PS5. It would appear gamers on Microsoft’s bulky box have received some hope earlier than expected.
wccftech.com
28.08.2023 / 12:39
Baldur’s Gate 3 Split-Screen on Xbox Series S Might Still Happen, Says Microsoft
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).
gadgets.ndtv.com
25.08.2023 / 15:21
Baldur’s Gate III Is Coming to Xbox This Year After All, but No Split-Screen Co-Op on Xbox Series S
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.
thesixthaxis.com
25.08.2023 / 11:25
Baldur’s Gate 3 confirmed for Xbox Series X|S
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.