Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke simply revealed on Twitter that Baldur’s Gate 3 will introduce this year after all, thanks to a concession made by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer: the Series S version won’t have split-screen co-op functionality, which was the technical difficulty mentioned by the designer as the cause for the delay.
Super happy to confirm that after fulfilling Phil Spencer yesterday, we’ve found an option that enables us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox gamers this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time. 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 development in between Steam and Xbox Series.
On August 1st, Larian didn’t seem positive in launching the video game this year. Larian’s Director of Publishing Michael Douse informed Xbox fans that there were a number of engineers dealing with implementing a seamless split-screen co-op function on Xbox Series S, and it was the studio’s want to provide an update on the development before the end of 2023. Naturally, now that Microsoft has accepted bypass the parity stipulation with the Xbox Series X variation, the barrier has actually been removed and the video game can be launched previously.
In a Gamescom 2023 interview, Phil Spencer applauded Baldur’s Gate 3, though he didn’t think it would always set expectations for the upcoming launch of Starfield by Bethesda Game Studios.
Fantastic game, but I don’t think it has anything to do with Starfield. Great games coming out are always great for the industry. Initially, congratulations to Larian and the group. I think it’s like what, a 97 rated video game or something? As somebody who finished the initial Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate 2, and all of the growths, I’m a huge Baldur’s Gate fan. To see a team invest the time to make I think a true next model of a classic video gaming franchise, it’s constantly just excellent for the industry.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is undoubtedly setting records left and right, so Xbox fans will be thrilled by the news. The video game reportedly offered over 5.2 million systems on Steam to date, and it is presently the top-ranked PC game of perpetuity on Metacritic and OpenCritic. It made a 9.5 out of 10 rating in Wccftech’s evaluation:
Before release, Baldur’s Gate 3 guaranteed to be a very excellent cRPG, but Larian Studios went beyond all expectations by creating among the very best video games of the previous 5 years. The huge amount of possibilities provided to the player, integrated with excellent story and characters, strong turn-based fight and tons of replayability, make the journey to conserve your characters from the mind flayers’ tadpoles one that needs to be experienced by all those who have even simply a remote interest in role-playing games.