Baldur’s Gate 3 devs are working with Xbox team to get split-screen working on Series S

Baldur’s Gate 3 It will arrive on Xbox Series X / S, but exactly when it is in the air.

Talking with IGNLarian Studios boss Swen Vincke explained that the problem with a simultaneous release on all platforms boils down to issues the team has experienced with Xbox.

Larian’s goal was to release Baldur’s Gate 3 on all three platforms simultaneously, but optimization issues with Xbox Series S, specifically, caused a delay.

As stated above, the main issue has to do with split-screen co-op. Xbox Series S seems to have a problem with split screen, which is apparently due to memory limitations. Split screen is one of the main features of the game, and Microsoft insists on parity between Series S and Xbox Series X.

This means you can’t have a gaming feature present on one system and not the other, so ditching the feature on the Series S and keeping it on the Series X isn’t an option. And it’s not one Larian would like to do.

“Not that we planned it [the Xbox delay]Vincke said. We plan to have a simultaneous release. But we have been working on this game for a long time. It’s a really great game. The amount of things you can do on it is insane. I think people will be surprised when they see everything. There are limitations that we have to overcome, so we just work on them. Some take longer.

“You are very free in what you do, freer than what people expect. That means you can run into a really big city that’s much more dense than people expect. You can do all kinds of crazy things, so it requires a lot of optimization. On certain platforms we are faster than on other platforms. It just takes us time. That is the reality of development.”

Because of this, Lairan may have to compromise with the Xbox version. Such compromises aren’t ideal, according to Vincke, and the team is trying to be “limited” in what it has to compromise, so it’s taking its time with the Xbox version of the game.

To that end, the team is receiving help from the Xbox Advanced Technology Group, which has been well received.

“We certainly have had support from Microsoft,” Vincke said. “We had the support of the ATG group. They have been doing very well. They have been helping a lot. Everyone wants this to come out on Xbox. It’s not that we don’t want it on Xbox. It’s just, our problem, and that’s us, Larian, is that we just made a very big game. And it’s a very difficult match.”

“We’re not a developer with an infinite amount of resources, either. We’re limited in the amount of time each platform version is tested. The more permutations you start adding to it on a platform, the more complicated it gets. I wish I could tell you we can do magic and miracles. We can’t.

“But I don’t think we should hold back a version that’s ready for the world if we’re there. I don’t think that’s a good reason to stop it.”

Vincke went on to say that if Larian waited until there was final parity across all platforms, the in-game wait would be longer. That’s why the studio will go ahead and release Baldur’s Gate 3 for PC, three weeks before that, and for PS5 in September before the Xbox Series X/S version is complete.

As for when it will be ready for Xbox, it’s just a matter of time, with Lairan expecting it to arrive sometime this year, but Vincke couldn’t guarantee that.