Baldur's Gate 3 will launch on Xbox Series S without a major feature

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has confirmed the game will arrive on Xbox platforms in 2023, but as two different versions.

Arguably the biggest RPG to launch this year, Baldur's Gate 3 has seen an outstanding level of success just from its PC release alone.

Take a look at the Baldur's Gate 3 trailer below.

Not only has it become the best-rated game of 2023 on Metacritic, dethroning Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the process, but it's also sneaked its way into the top 10 highest-rated games of all time.

While fans have been loving the game on PC so far, console fans are eagerly awaiting their ports, with a PlayStation 5 version set for release next month with no delays according to the devs. Xbox is a different story though, as the Xbox Series X/S version has faced delays due to Larian Studios struggling to get split-screen co-op working Xbox Series S consoles, due to hardware limitations.

Due to Microsoft's parity agreement, a game released for Xbox Series X/S must launch with the same core features, so since Baldur's Gate 3 couldn't be released on the Series S, the Series X version had to be delayed too.

Now though, Baldur's Gate 3 has become the first game to get permission from Xbox to break the parity agreement, meaning the game will launch on both Xbox consoles this year, with split-screen co-op only available on the Series X.

Larian Studios founder and CEO Swen Vincke confirmed the news on Twitter, saying: "Super happy to confirm that after meeting [head of Xbox, Phil Spencer] 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."

This will no doubt be good news for Xbox fans, who've been eagerly awaiting updates on their port of the game.

Baldur's Gate 3 is available right now on PC, and will launch on PlayStation 5 on 6 September. A release date for the Xbox version hasn't been confirmed yet.

Topics: Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Baldur's Gate 3