If you told us at any point during the three-year-long Early Access period of Baldur’s Gate 3 that it will outsell the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the PlayStation 5, we’d tell you to go back to sleep.
Alas, this is exactly the dream scenario that Larian Studios finds itself waking up to just as it forced Valve to steady the helm on Steam’s servers after Baldur’s Gate 3 launched on the PC last week.
Granted, this is based on pre-order numbers, but the fact remains that the pseudo-PS5-exclusive has this year’s biggest first-party Sony title beat in terms of numbers – a reality that no one could’ve ever dreamed of, not even the developers themselves.
Update: Baldur's Gate III has now moved to the #1 Best Selling Pre-Order on PSN in the US
The stellar launch of the PC version is definitely having a big positive impact on the upcoming PlayStation 5 versions performance https://t.co/KAl4ahnWMK pic.twitter.com/PlljDl6Aq5
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) August 6, 2023
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the frontrunner for this year’s Game of the Year award. Although either one of Resident Evil 4, Diablo 4, and Final Fantasy 16 could get nominated for the same award in December, Nintendo’s magnum opus and presumed swan song for the Nintendo Switch has no rival – until now.
Baldur’s Gate 3, designed to make gamers cry, is bucking industry trends. Even the developers didn’t dare prepare for this level of success for Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian Studios CEO, Swen Vincke, previously mentioned that he warned the studio’s IT team to expect a maximum player count of 100k. At the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3 has peaked at more than 800,000+ players.
Suffice to say, Vincke’s bet on Larian Studios remaining independent amidst a time of acquisitions is paying off nicely.
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason for the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, whether on the PC or the PlayStation 5. Perhaps the biggest factor is the excitement surrounding the very loud but relatively minor Dungeons & Dragons fanbase that Baldur’s Gate 3 was specifically designed for. It, however, remains perplexing how Baldur’s Gate 3 went from this relative unknown of a game outside of its fanbase just a few weeks back to making Larian Studios suddenly one of the hottest names in the gaming industry. If nothing else, we should just be glad that Baldur’s Gate 3 is here to fill the gap left by the still-underdelivering post-launch content for Diablo 4 and the lack of updates regarding Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 5.
At the moment, the pre-orders for Baldur’s Gate 3 are well ahead of the usual suspects, EA Sports FC 24 and EA Sports Madden NFL 24, as well as Mortal Kombat 1 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, on the PS5.
Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t expected to stay atop the rankings. After relatively tame marketing efforts over the past few weeks, including the announcement of a Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 themed bundle, Sony is expected to ramp things up for the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive ahead of its release on October 20.
At the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3 is only confirmed for the PC, MacOs, and PS5.
Unfortunately, the Xbox port isn’t coming out anytime soon. In fact, the delay has generated quite a bit of discussion about the problems with the Xbox Series S, leading to speculations that Microsoft is thinking about phasing it out completely.
