When the release dates for Baldur’s Gate 3 were revealed, noticeably missing was an Xbox launch date. While some assumed that the game was under some sort of exclusivity license with Sony on the PlayStation 5, that’s not the case.
In a series of posts on Twitter over the weekend, Michael Douse, Larian’s director of publishing, said that the reason is technical in nature. To be more specific, from an interview back in June with IGN, it’s because the game has to run the same on both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Related: No, You Can’t Preload Baldur’s Gate 3
“[W]e have no exclusivity deal that prevents us from launching on Xbox,” Douse said. “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.”
To make matters worse, the studio isn’t so confident the issue will be resolved in time to see the game launched on Xbox this year.
Douse added: “We have quite a few engineers working very hard to do what no other RPG of this scale has achieved: seamless drop-in, drop-out co-op on Series S. We hope to have an update by the end of the year.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 launches on August 3 for PC and September 6 for PlayStation 5. According to Larian, the game will feature 17,000 possible endings.
What do you think of the Xbox Series S delaying Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox consoles? For more Insider Gaming, check out what caused chaos at a recent Street Fighter 6 tournament.
