Baldur’s Gate 3 has been released on Xbox Series X|S. The hit fantasy game was surprise dropped last night (December 7) during The Game Awards 2023.
Baldur’s Gate 3, which is based on the long-running tabletop role-playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons, was released on PC back in August, with a PlayStation version following in September. The Xbox Series X|S version of the RPG was initially delayed due to issues with the split-screen co-op part of the game.
As developer Larian Studios said in a statement to IGN: “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 and S, which is a requirement for us to ship.”
This requirement was later dropped after a meeting between Xbox head Phil Spencer and Larian head Swen Vincke during Gamescom 2023.
“It’s a game I want to see on the platform, and we have resources that helped in terms of making sure it’s going to,” Spencer stated at the time.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was nominated for nine awards at The Game Awards 2023, winning six of them including Game Of The Year and Best Role-Playing Game.
NME reviewed the game when it was released on PC earlier this year, calling it a “critical hit”. Our reviewer Andy Brown wrote “Larian’s latest role-playing spectacle boasts unmatched worldbuilding, freedom and scale. The scope of Baldur’s Gate 3 should be impossible – but time and time again, it proves there’s no such thing.”
It received an update earlier this month that brought with it a new epilogue, two new difficulty modes and a whole host of bug fixes.
In other gaming news, God Of War Ragnarok is receiving a new DLC next week, adding a roguelike flavour to the title.