Baldur's Gate 3 finally gives good news over Xbox version
Baldur's Gate 3 is officially coming out on Xbox this year.
This year's (now joint) highest-rated game is out now on PC, with a PlayStation 5 version set for early September. The Xbox version was (like the MacOS version still is) set for some time next year, with the community conclusion being that the less-powerful Series S couldn't handle the split-screen co-op.
Now, developer Larian has announced that the RPG will come earlier than expected, but confirmed that Series S player won't be able to enjoy it in split-screen.
Director Swen Vencke tweeted: "Super happy to confirm that after meeting @XboxP3 yesterday, we’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur's Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time.
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"All improvements will be there, with split-screen co-op on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen coop, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series."
Usually, games run at a lower resolution and/or framerate on Series S when compared to Series X, but this is the first major example of a game lacking an entire mode on the budget-friendly hardware.
This news comes shortly after a lengthy Eurogamer interview with Xbox head Phil Spencer, in which he said Microsoft's gaming division has been taking on "feedback" from developers (naming Larian in particular), suggesting this won't be the last time.
"There are features that ship on X today that do not ship on S, even from our own games, like ray-tracing that works on X, it's not on S in certain games. So for an S customer, they spent roughly half what the X customer bought, they understand that it's not going to run the same way.
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"I want to make sure games are available on both, that's our job as a platform holder and we're committed to that with our partners. And I think we're gonna get there with Larian. So I'm not overly worried about that, but we've learned some stuff through it.
"Having an entry level price point for console, sub-$300, is a good thing for the industry. I think it's important, the Switch has been able to do that, in terms of kind of the traditional plug-into-my-television consoles. I think it's important. So we're committed."
Are the floodgates now open for more games missing out on features when played on a Series S?
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