Don't expect to see Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox Game Pass, developer says

Baldur's Gate 3 will not be coming to Game Pass, even now the game is available on Xbox.

Speaking with IGN, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke stated the award winning RPG won't appear on Microsoft's subscription service, and that has always been the plan.

"We made a big game, so I think there's a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay," Vincke said, adding Baldur's Gate 3's inclusion on Game Pass was a "sensitive question".

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"We don't charge you any micro-transactions on top of it, so you get what you pay for," the developer continued. "Upfront it's a big meaty game. So I think that should be able to exist as it is.

"This is what allows us to continue making other games."

You may recall that earlier this year, leaked documents revealed Microsoft estimated it would take $5m to get Baldur's Gate 3 on Game Pass, with the company dubbing the game a "second-run Stadia PC RPG". It is fair to say that, given the huge success Larian's RPG has become, the company rather underestimated its potential.

However, rather than being bitter about this comparatively low figure (Microsoft estimated it would take $300m to get Star Wars Jedi: Survivor onto its subscription service), Larian's director of publishing Michael Douse said it came with the genre. As Douse noted back in September, "everyone else" had also done the same.

"Same with [Divinity: Original Sin 2]... There just isn't any existing data that could have told anyone how [Baldur's Gate 3] was going to perform," Douse stated. "We just had to take giant spooky leaps."

Meanwhile, Douse previously echoed Vincke's thoughts about keeping games off Game Pass. Speaking with Eurogamer in 2021 about the subscription service, Douse stated: "My point, explicitly, is that I would always rather have our fate in the hands of the players than anyone else."

After a period of time as a PlayStation console exclusive, Baldur's Gate 3 finally made the jump to Xbox earlier this month.

There have been a few issues with saves since then, with Microsoft recommending a specific method of closing Baldur's Gate 3 when you finish your play session to try and serve as a stopgap before an official fix is found.

If you are still on the fence about whether this game is for you, be sure to check out our four star Baldur's Gate 3 review here.