Larian drops Series S split-screen as "solution" to bring Baldur's Gate 3 to Xbox this year

When Larian Studios’ role-playing smash hit Baldur’s Gate 3 launched, it escaped no one’s attention how up for it most party companions in the game were. For once, the term “romance options” really was the euphemism it often sounds like. These people were horny, and they seemed less interested in getting to know you than in… well, getting to know you.

Larian Studios recently confirmed that Baldur's Gate 3, its surprise hit RPG due out soon on PS5, will also be out on Xbox before the end of 2023. That leaves a lot of room for the release date, so we took a moment to ask director Swen Vincke when fans can expect Larian's RPG on Xbox.

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.

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. 

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).

Despite recent hiccups, Xbox is sticking with its less powerful next-gen model, the Xbox Series S. This is despite the console reportedly getting in the way of Baldur's Gate 3's Xbox launch, with the port now coming much later than the PC and PS5 versions of the game.

For those Xbox players who have been waiting on a release for Baldur’s Gate 3 , Larian Studios and Microsoft have finally reached a solution that will allow a 2023 release. 

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.

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The Xbox fans of the world won’t have to wait much longer to play Baldur’s Gate 3, as Larian Studios has confirmed that the game will launch on Xbox Series X/S in 2023. This announcement follows uncertainty about the game’s future on Xbox platforms, even though it’s already on PC and will be coming to PS5 soon.

Larian founder and CEO Swen Vincke has shared an update on its massive RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to Xbox. While Baldur’s Gate 3 is now looking set to debut on Xbox Series consoles this year, it won’t have split-screen co-op for the Series S version.

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