Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has explained why the title hasn’t been given a release date on Xbox, and it’s not because it has an exclusivity deal in place.
As it stands, Larian has confirmed the title will launch on PC, Mac, GeForce Now, and PlayStation 5. An Xbox version of the RPG is currently in development, but hasn’t been officially announced because the studio is struggling to make splitscreen co-op work on the Xbox Series X | S.
In a statement sent to IGN, Larian said it has encountered issues getting the feature to “work to the same standard on both Xbox Series X and S, which is a requirement for us to ship.”
That indicates the studio is finding it difficult to deliver parity on Xbox because it need to ensure the title can run on both the premium Xbox Series X and more affordable Xbox Series X, which isn’t as powerful as its bulkier sibling.
Of course, Larian wouldn’t encounter that issue on PlayStation 5, because while there are two iterations of the console, the main difference is that one includes a disc drive and the other is purely digital.
“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,” wrote Larian in a statement.
“We’re seeing a lot of varied interpretations of what that means, so we wanted to clarify further. 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 percent 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 and S, which is a requirement for us to ship.
“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.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 will arrive on all other platforms on August 31, 2023, having been playable in early access since 2020.