Head of Larian Studios Sven Winke confirmed Baldur’s gate 3 coming to Xbox Series X|S later in 2023.
“The council will confirm this after the meeting [Phil Spencer]”, – he wrote, – we found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s gate 3 for Xbox players this year, something we’ve been working on for quite some time.”
Earlier this year, Larian hinted that the Xbox version of its popular RPG might take longer than expected. At the time, this was partly explained by the Xbox Series S console, but Winke now said that changes have been made to bring the game to both systems.
While the Series X and Series S versions will have “all the improvements” and fixes currently available on PC and the upcoming PlayStation 5 version, Winke said that split-screen co-op is only for the Series X. However, he said the game ” will also include cross-save between Steam and Xbox Series.”
It should be noted, however, that parity between the X-series and S-series versions is a mandatory requirement for the game to appear on consoles. The rule states that developers must “ensure that identical game modes are offered for all console types within a generation.”
It’s unclear whether this is a special exception, or whether it’s indicative of a larger shift in how Xbox views its two current-gen consoles.
Roll for consoles
With the Xbox Series version coming later this year, Baldur’s gate 3 has one of the shortest transitions from PC to console for a Larian game.
The Divinity Original Sin games were originally released in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Their console versions (labeled as “Enhanced Editions” for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) were released the following year after their initial PC release.
However, both of these console ports were handled by different developers, namely Focus Home Interactive and Bandai Namco. This is the first console port that Larian has handled independently since the 2010s Divinity II. (Unlike Divinity: Original Sin II.)
Using three different systems spaced weeks or months apart helps Baldur’s gate 3 life cycle of the first year. Not only does this ensure that the game stays in the public discussion, the short staggered release date makes it look more like the action-packed title it should be.
Very happy to confirm this after the meeting @XboxP3 yesterday we found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players later this year, something we’ve been working on for quite some time.
— Sven Winke @where? (@LarAtLarian) August 24, 2023