Baldur’s Gate 3 is launching in a few days but not for the Xbox Series consoles. In fact, the RPG doesn’t even have a release date for Xbox. Now, we just found out that it might not be available on the Xbox until next year if not later.
Many fans of the game on the Xbox are frustrated that the upcoming title won’t make its way to the Microsoft console anytime soon. Michael Douse, Larian Studios’ director of publishing, hopes to give gamers an update about Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox “by the end of the year.
Console exclusivity has nothing to do with the delay of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox. An issue with the split screen on the Xbox Series S is causing the delay of the game. The split-screen co-op allows two players to play the game together on one console and is a huge draw for fans of the upcoming RPG.
Douse revealed that devs encountered a “a technical hurdle” on Twitter. He explained that the studio is trying to get the split screen working on the Series S and cannot remove the feature as they are “obliged to launch with feature parity.”
“Hello friend! We’ve said many times in the past that the issue is getting split-screen working on the Series S, which is taking more time, but is in progress,” Douse tweeted. “This is a huge technical hurdle, but we are unable to release the game on the ecosystem without this feature.”
He adds, “Far from being exclusive, we have no exclusivity deal that prevents us from launching on Xbox. The issue is a technical hurdle. We cannot remove the split-screen feature because we are obliged to launch with feature parity, and so continue to try and make it work.”
Far from being exclusive, we have no exclusivity deal that prevents us from launching on Xbox. The issue is a technical hurdle. We cannot remove the split-screen feature because we are obliged to launch with feature parity, and so continue to try and make it work.
— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) July 31, 2023
The issue preventing the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 back on Xbox is limited to the Series S but has made it clear the lower-end console is not holding back the development of the RPG. Interestingly, Larian Studios is opting to release the game on both Xbox consoles at the same time. It will be a tough wait for Series X players considering that this is the first entry in the series in 22 years.
On the bright side, Larian Studios is working hard on fixing the issue and allocating resources to fixing the issue. The studio says that the console has not seen an RPG of this scale on the Series S. The game will feature seamless drop-in and drop-out co-op on the lower-tier Xbox console.
“We have quite a few engineers working very hard to do what no other RPG of this scale has achieved: seamless drop-in, drop-out co-op on Series S. We hope to have an update by the end of the year,” Douse ends.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to PC on August 3 and PS5 on September 6.
