‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ might get Xbox release but development has hit “issues”

Larian Studios have confirmed that there’s no reason Baldur’s Gate 3 can’t be released for Xbox players.

Earlier this week, the studio confirmed that Baldur’s Gate 3 would be released August 31 for PC, Mac, and PS5. The role-playing game was announced back in 2019, and a new trailer announced an August 2023 release window late last year.

Developers have now shared a statement confirming an Xbox version is in the works.

“Following yesterday’s PS5 and release date announcement, we’ve clarified that right now, we’re planning to release Baldur’s Gate 3 for PC, Mac, GeForce NOW and PS5. That said, we have no exclusivity for which platforms we can bring BG3 to, or when, and will announce support for additional platforms if and when we’re ready,” said Larian.

“We’re seeing a lot of varied interpretations of what that means, so we wanted to clarify further,” the studio continued. 

“We’ve had an Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate 3 in development for some time now. We’ve run into some technical issues in developing the Xbox port that have stopped us feeling 100% confident in announcing it until we’re certain we’ve found the right solutions – specifically, we’ve been unable to get splitscreen co-op to work to the same standard on both Xbox Series X/S, which is a requirement for us to ship.”

It continued: “There’s no platform exclusivity preventing us from releasing BG3 on Xbox day and date, should that be a technical possibility. If and when we do announce further platforms, we want to make sure each version lives up to our standards & expectations.”

Larian boss Swen Vincke took to Twitter to add: “Relax. We still aren’t playing the exclusivity game.”

Relax. We still aren’t playing the exclusivity game.

— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) February 24, 2023

It’s also been confirmed that J.K. Simmons will be starring in the game as General Ketheric Thorm, a “seemingly invincible necromancer leading an army of the dead towards the city of Baldur’s Gate.”

In a four-star preview of the game, NME wrote: It’s an ambitiously built, well-written tale of adventure framed by lovable companions and stunning fidelity. If you’ve got a busy imagination and consider yourself to be a fan of RPGs tabletop or digital, this game should be an instant purchase.”