Baldur’s Gate 3 to release on Xbox Series X/S after all, with some concessions

Larian’s RPG juggernaut Baldur’s Gate 3 has released on PC already to substantial acclaim, and with a PS5 port coming next month. A modern console conspicuously absent from the release list is Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S, on which the game had been indefinitely delayed due to issues getting the game to run on the less powerful Xbox Series S console. Fortunately for Xbox gamers, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now confirmed to be coming out on Series X/S soon, albeit with some features trimmed on the Series S.

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

According to a post on Twitter/X/whatever Elon is calling it this week, Larian CEO Swen Vincke has confirmed that a solution has been reached to get Baldur’s Gate 3 running on Xbox. Both the Xbox and PC versions will have cross-save-progression, allowing players to migrate their playthroughs from one platform to another. The Xbox Series X version is set to be as feature-rich as the PS5 port. Unfortunately, the split-screen co-op mode has had to be axed for the Xbox Series S port as a compromise to get it to function.

In terms of features to remove, the split-screen co-op is probably one of the less-crucial features to remove while still preserving the core experience. Microsoft maintains a policy that any game which releases on Xbox Series X must also release on the Series S, which has been polarising among some developers. The Xbox Series S is a marvellous little console, and is an excellent ticket to modern console gaming for gamers on a budget. That said, as this console generation progresses, we are likely to see more workarounds like this to squeeze more ambitious games onto the Series S if Microsoft wants to keep supporting its two-console policy.

As per the announcement, it doesn’t seem like the Xbox Series X/S version will be coming out alongside the PlayStation 5 port on September 6th 2023. Vincke has advised that the game will be coming to Xbox Series X/S this year, however, so fortunately Xbox players won’t have too much longer to wait.