Baldur's Gate 3 Xbox could be pushed into 2024, but you can hold yourself over with Baldur's Gate 1&2 on Game Pass
Larian promises an update on the Xbox version by the end of the year at the most.
It looks like Baldur's Gate 3 may be released in either late 2023 or early 2024, going by a recent comment from Larian's director of publishing, Michael Douse.
The comment, noticed on Twitter by VGC, states the studio hopes to have an update regarding the Xbox release date "by the end of the year."
As previously reported, the reason for the Xbox Series X/S delay is due to technical issues getting split-screen co-op to work on Series S.
Because Microsoft requires games to launch with feature parity, this policy will also delay the release for Series X. Larian is working with Microsoft on overcoming the technical hurdle; however, it sounds as though it is taking longer than hoped.
"We’ve said many times in the past that the issue is getting split-screen working on the Series S, which is taking more time but is in progress," said Douse. "This is a huge technical hurdle, but we are unable to release the game on the ecosystem without this feature.
"Far from being exclusive, we have no exclusivity deal that prevents us from launching on Xbox. The issue is a technical hurdle. We cannot remove the split-screen feature because we are obliged to launch with feature parity, and [we] continue to try and make it work.
"We have quite a few engineers working very hard to do what no other RPG of this scale has achieved: seamless drop-in, drop-out co-op on Series S. We hope to have an update by the end of the year."
In the meantime, you can always play the game on PC, as it releases on August 3. If you are a PS5 user, it arrives on the console on September 6.
Because it could be a while before you get your hands on Baldur's Gate 3 for Series X/S, you can always give the original games a go through Game Pass.
This is because, it appears, Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, will release the Enhanced versions of Baldur's Gate 1&2 through Game Pass soon.
While unconfirmed by Xbox or Beamdog as of press time, Game Pass users have reported receiving notifications that the games are coming to the service (reddit, Twitter).
Again, we can't confirm this right now, but if it is indeed the case, we expect an announcement at any time.
If you are not a Game Pass user, and want to try the games on PC, Humble Bundle has a great offer right now. The Baldurs Gate and Beyond Bundle will run you $12/£9.29, and it contains eight items which include: Enhanced Editions of both Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, with bonus chapters, Neverwinter Nights: Complete Adventures, and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. It's a really good deal, and you have another seven days to grab it before it's gone.