Baldur’s Gate 3 hits Steam hard and a long-awaited game finally comes to Xbox - Weekly Roundup
Baldur’s Gate 3, the highly anticipated next entry in the Baldur’s Gate series, released to critical and commercial success on PC this past Friday. While 3 has been available in Early Access since 2020, the Steam release marks the official, fully completed (or at least commercially-available) version of Baldur’s Gate 3 ahead of its console releases later this year.
The game has received a stunning score of 94 on Metacritic, placing it in the upper echelons of gaming (most “perfect” or “must-play” titles receive a 95+), and an equally impressive 9.2 User Score. Rarely do the critic score and user score line up so neatly, which is a gold star for Larian Studios, the team behind Baldur’s Gate 3.
It’s also seen so much success on PC that Steam can’t handle it.
On August 3rd, the Friday of release, Steam reported major technical difficulties in the platform because so many people were trying to download the 120+ GB file for Baldur’s Gate 3. This is both great news for Larian, who got free press and headlines from the mishap, and terrible news for Steam, which has built a reputation for being the best and most reliable gaming storefront in the industry. But it probably won’t amount to much more than good PR for Larian.
In other, more surprising news, Xbox fans can rejoice! At the end of Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2023, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer announced that after years of pleading fans and requests, online MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV would be coming to Xbox Series X/S with 4K support, cross-play capabilities, and more.
This marks the first time Final Fantasy XIV is available on an Xbox console, so it’s a happy day for fans of the franchise. It might also be an olive branch from Square Enix after releasing the latest entry in the franchise, Final Fantasy XVI, exclusively on PS5.
August is a relatively slow month for games, compared to the massive summer we’ve had and the exciting Fall calendar. The next big games on the slate after Baldur’s Gate 3 are Immortals of Aveum, an EA-published first-person shooter announced at last year’s Game Awards, and Sea of Stars, a JRPG not unlike Octopath Traveler. Both games come out later this month.
