All available platforms for Baldur’s Gate 3: Will it be released on Xbox or Steam?

In these times of mounting delays, Larian Studios surprised us all this week by announcing that Baldur’s Gate 3 is not only not delayed, but it’s also being pushed forward. The game’s new release date is August 3 on PC (as originally planned, which was the 31 of that same month) and it will arrive a month later, on September 6, 2023, on PlayStation 5. Now, what about Xbox Series X|S?

Far from what it might seem, this isn’t an exclusivity deal with Sony. As reported by IGN, the problem would be that Split screen multiplayer doesn’t quite work or goes as smoothly as one would expect on Xbox Series S. It might seem silly, but Microsoft requires that there be some parity between the versions of Series X and Series S. Xbox does not care that there are differences in terms of frame rate, resolution or graphic settings. Still, it does draw a line when it comes to gameplay issues, which is just what would happen with Baldur’s Gate 3 if it came out without co-op on Xbox Series S. Either it is removed from both consoles or it is left. The same thing happened to Halo Infinite, but instead of fighting for it as Larian seems to be doing, 343 Industries chose to discard it and go without a co-op mode at launch in its two versions.

The developer insists that it’s still in their plans, because they want to bring the game to all possible platforms, and it is rumored that Microsoft is helping to make it possible, but it is difficult for us to see Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox Series X|S before 2024, and it remains to be seen then if it does so with said local cooperative or without it.

Will Baldur’s Gate 3 work on Steam Deck?

We have great news for those planning to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on your Steam Deck. Valve itself have given the game the “Playable” tag, and even though it is not the best possible (in that case it would be “Verified”), it does guarantee that we will be able to enjoy the Larian title on the company’s handheld platform.

The only details that seem to separate Baldur’s Gate 3 from the verified pin are the fact that it uses its own launcher, does not include some of the icons for Steam Deck button icons and it needs us to bring up the keyboard manually when we need to write something (using the STEAM + X key combination).

It was to be expected, since the director of the game, Swen Vincke, already assured back in the day that Steam Deck was “incredible” and declared himself a fan of Valve’s brand new platform. Of course, a warning for adventurers: the game will require 150 GB of storage.