Earlier this week, Microsoft and developer Larian Studios finally confirmed that the hit PC D&D based fantasy RPG Baldur"s Gate 3 would be coming to the Xbox Series X and S consoles sometime before the end of 2023.
That was the good news. The not-so-good news is that the Xbox Series S console would not include support for the game"s split-screen co op feature. This was likely the reason why Baldur"s Gate 3 didn"t launch around at the same time as the PC version, which was released on Steam and GoG.com in early August. Larian had admitted earlier this year that getting split-screen on the Xbox Series S to work was proving to be a big barrier.
However, it sounds like Larian and Microsoft are not willing to give up on that particular feature for owners of the more affordable console. In a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, the Xbox team stated it will "continue to work with Larian to explore the addition of split-screen" to the Xbox Series S for Baldur"s Gate 3 "post launch."
To answer some questions we"re getting, we"ll continue to work with Larian to explore the addition of split-screen on Series S post launch.
— Xbox (@Xbox) August 25, 2023
Previously, Microsoft said that, with the exception of graphical and resolution elements, all of the features of a game released on the Xbox Series X must also be available for the Xbox Series S console as well. Baldur"s Gate 3 is going to be the first exception to that policy but it appears that both Microsoft and Larian want to continue to work in order to fix that situation.
Meanwhile, PC players got their first major patch for Baldur"s Gate 3 earlier this week, with over 1,000 bug fixes. The game is coming to the PlayStation 5 console on September 6.