Microsoft Thought Baldur’s Gate 3 Was a ‘Second-Run Stadia RPG’

Microsoft really misjudged the potential of Baldur’s Gate 3, according to leaked documents from the Microsoft vs. FTC trial, calling it a “second-run Stadia PC RPG.” This may sound surprising now, considering that Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best RPGs of 2023, but no one really expected it to be this big.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is perhaps one of the most surprising hits of the year. Released on PC on August 3, Baldur’s Gate 3 surpassed 875,000 concurrent players on Steam, surpassing the expectations of even Larian’ Studios’ boss Swen Vincke. Now, it’s also available for PS5, and it’s selling well on the platform.

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Leaked documents from the Microsoft vs. FTC trial recently unveiled that Microsoft was not expecting much from Baldur’s Gate 3. According to Polygon, which examined emails exchanged during May 2022, Xbox’s chief Phil Spencer listed Baldur’s Gate 3 to other executives as a “second-run Stadia PC RPG,” a reference to the fact that the game would be released on Google’s now-defunct gaming platform. Spencer’s emails also show that Microsoft expected the cost to take BG3 to Game Pass to be around $5 million, as it was seen as a low-priority project at the time. The emails were regarding the delay of Starfield, which was originally set to be released in 2022, and listed several other potential Game Pass titles, too, with games such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor having an expectation of costing $300 million to go to Game Pass.

At the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3 is still not available for Xbox. While it’s possible that Microsoft’s low expectations for the game may have played a part in that, the main issue was that BG3 simply did not run very well on split-screen multiplayer on Xbox Series S. Initially, Microsoft didn’t allow Larian to release the game without full parity between Xbox X and S versions but eventually agreed to ditch split-screen on Series S, considering how popular the game got. At the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3 is expected to be out for Xbox Series X/S sometime between September and November.

Baldur’s Gate 3 may not be launching for Xbox just yet, but there’s a new patch for the game just around the corner. Patch 3 for Baldur’s Gate 3 will be out by September 21, and it’s part of a larger effort to fix some performance issues and bugs in the game. However, there are still no official patch notes detailing what’s changing, aside from Larian’s statement that the title will be available for Mac computers on this date.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now for PC and PS5 with an Xbox Series X/S version in development.

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Source: Polygon