Amazing news for RPG fans on Xbox who’ve been patiently waiting for the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios boss Swen Vincke has confirmed that the title will be launching on Xbox Series X|S this year.
Vincke tweeted this afternoon (Thursday, August 24): “Super happy to confirm that after meeting [Phil Spencer] 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.
“All improvements will be there, with split-screen co-op on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen co-op, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series.”
Larian Studios had previously made it known that trying to get the split-screen co-op feature working on Xbox Series S was holding back the release on the two consoles. Referring to this issue back in July, Michael Douse, Larian Studios’ director of publishing tweeted: “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.
“Far from being exclusive, we have no exclusivity deal that prevents us from launching on Xbox. The issue is a technical hurdle. We cannot remove the split-screen feature because we are obliged to launch with feature parity, and so continue to try and make it work,” he continued.
Interestingly, removing the feature is exactly what the developers have ended up doing – it’s not clear what’s changed there, or whether that may represent the ‘solution’ the Vincke is referring to, perhaps.
Given that Douse previously told fans to expect an update “by the end of the year”, many had been under the impression that the title might not release until 2024, so this latest development will certainly be a welcome surprise to some (perhaps not those who were looking forward to the co-op feature on Series S, though). At the time of writing, Vincke hasn’t given any indication of when Baldur’s Gate 3 will land on Xbox Series X|S, so we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for further updates.
If you’re looking for more games to dive into, be sure to check out our list of the best RPGs available to play now. You can also read our roundup of new Xbox Series X games releasing soon.