Baldur’s Gate 3 is undoubtedly a strong contender for this year’s Game of the Year award. The adventure RPG game gave strong competition to the hype for Zelda: The Tears of the Kingdom following its PlayStation 5 release on September 6, 2023. Developers Larian Studios are now looking to expand the horizons of the game with another console release.
Yes, Baldur’s Gate 3 is arriving on Xbox this year. The news comes after developers previously mentioned that an Xbox version of the game is in development, and required a few changes in “getting split-screen working on the Series S.” The latest development was mentioned by Larian Studios’ CEO Swen Vincke. They are still trying to introduce a way to get split-screen in Xbox Series S, though.
Vincke also mentioned that cross-platform progression for BG3 will solely work between Xbox and Steam, seemingly barring cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox players. This keeps the competition going between both consoles. Though there has been no official announcement on the release date for Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox, we can assume it will be before December, before the GOTY Awards ceremony.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Xbox Pricing and Xbox Game Pass
Upon its release on the PlayStation 5 console, Baldur’s Gate 3 had a price of $69.99 for the Standard Edition and $79.99 for the Deluxe Edition. The Xbox version is expected to have a similar pricing or lower. Unfortunately, the much-heralded action RPG won’t be on Game Pass.
According to an email leak in May 2023, Microsoft considered BG3 to be a ‘second-run Stadia PC RPG’, meaning a second-rate RPG, before the game’s official release. The company severely underestimated the projected cost of getting Baldur’s Gate on Xbox Game Pass, saving only $5 million. As such, they didn’t have a deal with Larian Studios.
The absence of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Game Pass will hurt the reputation of Microsoft. It could’ve added to the huge profits gathered from the success of Starfield. We can only hope that the company makes sound decisions in the future.
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