Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox Version in Development but Facing Technical Difficulties

Baldur’s Gate 3 is planned for Xbox, but it may arrive later than the PlayStation 5 and PC versions. Developer Larian Studios explained the situation today when it addressed desires for an Xbox version with a statement on Reddit. The clarification arrives just a day after the studio appeared during yesterday’s State of Play presentation to reveal a PS5 version of Baldur’s Gate 3. Many were disappointed to see that Larian didn’t also reveal an Xbox version of its long-awaited RPG, but it turns out the studio had a good reason for staying quiet about additional platforms.

Quite simply, technical difficulties are to blame. The statement posted on Reddit makes it clear that an Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate 3 has been in development for “some time.” Where the team ran into trouble, however, is split-screen co-op on Xbox. The hiccup has led to some uncertainty within Larian, and the studio didn’t want to make an official announcement “because we don’t want to get (people’s) hopes up until we’re sure we can deliver.” You can read the full statement below:

Hey all,

Thanks for all the hype and enthusiasm following yesterday’s announcement that Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to PS5 day and date with PC on August 31st!

Xbox players, we’ve seen your questions about if/when you can expect Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox. We’ve had an Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate 3 in the works for some time, but we have run into some technical issues – particularly with split-screen co-op. We are still working on an Xbox version of BG3, but we’re not yet confident enough to announce it. We don’t like announcing anything until we’re ready, because we don’t want to get peoples hopes up until we’re sure we can deliver.

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. Thanks for understanding!

While the reveal that Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t be restricted to PC when it launches this August had many excited, others saw the lack of an Xbox announcement as confirmation that an exclusivity deal was in place. Such deals are common in the industry, with many games – including Forspoken, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Deathloop – all being affected by platform exclusivity deals at some point. Larian CEO Swen Vincke took to Twitter to provide further assurance that Baldur’s Gate 3 is not part of any exclusivity deals for any platforms.

So – the only reason we didn't announce an Xbox version is because we're not ready for it yet. Has nothing to do with exclusivity. More details here https://t.co/FC0juT5qBM

— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) February 24, 2023

You can look forward to Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to PC and PlayStation 5 on August 31: Let’s hope that the Xbox version arrives sooner rather than later.