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Larian Studios, the developers behind Baldur's Gate 3, has confirmed that the game's release on Xbox Series X|S this year. However, there's a catch to the good news.
Ever since the game's release back at the start of August, Baldur's Gate 3 has received multiple great reviews. It has even become the #1 Best-Reviewed PC Game of All Time on Metacritic. With the PlayStation 5 version of the game coming in Early September, Xbox players have been wondering when they will be able to play the game. Players were already expecting a 2024 release for the game on Xbox, but it appears that Larian has other plans.
Super happy to confirm that after meeting @XboxP3 yesterday, we’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time.
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) August 24, 2023
In a tweet by Swen Vincke, Larian Studios' founder, CEO, and creative director, he mentioned that he was “super happy to confirm” that they have “found a solution that allows [them] to bring Baldur's Gate 3 to Xbox players.” Not only that, but they said that the game would be coming to the console “this year.” This basically confirms that Xbox players won't have to wait until next year to play this masterpiece of a game. There is, however, a catch to this great news.
All improvements will be there, with split-screen coop on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen coop, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series.
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) August 24, 2023
In a follow-up tweet, Vincke mentioned that the Series S version of the game will “not feature split-screen coop.” Split-screen coop was one of the game's numerous selling points, allowing up to two players to enjoy the game in local couch coop. However, as Vincke mentioned, it would appear that this feature won't be coming on the Xbox Series S. Vincke did, however, assure players that “all improvements will be there”, and that split-screen will be on the Series X. Not only that, but there will also be cross-save progression between the Steam and Xbox versions of the game.
This decision is due to the technical limitations of the platform. The Xbox Series S is the more affordable version of the latest Xbox generation. However, it doesn't have a disc drive and has weaker overall hardware. This is one of the reasons why the game's Xbox release was taking a while. Michael Douse, the director of publishing at Larian Studios, already mentioned in a tweet a while ago that “getting split-screen working on the Series S” was a “huge technical hurdle”, and as such is “taking more time.”
Hello friend! We’ve said many times in the past that the issue is getting split-screen working on the Series S, which is taking more time, but is in progress. This is a huge technical hurdle, but we are unable to release the game on the ecosystem without this feature.
— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) July 31, 2023
They previously stated that they are “unable to release the game on the ecosystem” without the split-screen feature. However, it would appear that they have switched gears. This isn't a bad thing, in this writer's opinion. More people deserve to play this game as soon as possible. In fact, a lot of the players responded to Vincke's announcement positively. Quite a few of them mentioned that they didn't mind that the game would not have split-screen coop. All that matters was that they will be able to finally play the game. Of course, there are those who were still hoping for split-screen coop on the Series S, but that likely won't happen anymore.
Baldur's Gate 3 has been making waves in the gaming world ever since its full release. It has raised the bar for modern games, as it released with everything available to the player, and with the promise of having no micro-transactions at all. If you are looking for a game to spend hundreds of hours in, and still have something new to experience, then consider trying this game out.
That's all the information we have about Baldur's Gate 3's release on Xbox Series X|S. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.
