One of the biggest role-playing games of 2023 has a niggling issue that could delay its release on Microsoft’s lower-end Xbox Series S consoles. Larian Studios, the developer behind Divinity: Original Sin 2 and the reboot of the classic cRPG franchise, has been working on ensuring BG3 works well across all current-gen platforms, but its struggle to optimize the game for Xbox Series S is holding up the release.
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Michael Douse, Director of Publishing at Larian Studios, pointed out some issues on the platform, adding that the lack of a release date isn’t due to some exclusivity deal with Sony. Instead, the studio is struggling to make the game run well on Xbox Series S/X and needs to get the split-screen co-op feature up and running.
It’s a bummer that the Series S is holding up the release, especially considering how popular the console is among players who don’t have a more powerful PC. The issue has been going on for a while, but Douse’s tweets put a finer point: unless the team can resolve the split-screen issue, it might not be ready for a release on the Series S/X this year.
Douse pointed out that Larian must provide feature parity between all Xbox and PlayStation platforms, including the less powerful Series S variants, and that the team hopes to have an update by the end of the year on its progress with that goal. Microsoft Series S owners will only be able to experience the latest installment in the beloved Dungeons & Dragons franchise soon.
Despite the delay, Douse assured fans that the team is doing everything possible to ensure BG3 is up to Larian’s high standards for both the PS5 and the Series S. He emphasized that the studio still needs to give up on developing a release for the older consoles. Still, it will take time to work out all the bugs and optimize the game for them.
The Xbox Series S has been at the center of a debate over whether or not it’s “holding back gaming” by requiring developers to compromise on performance. But the truth is, it’s just less powerful than the higher-end Xbox X and thus requires more work to run games properly. It might be up to something other than bringing some of 2023’s most anticipated titles to the platform. This isn’t an isolated incident, either — even a relatively new game like 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite struggled with its Series S optimization. Hopefully, the same can’t be said for future games. With the rise of the streaming era, it’s no longer surprising to see more titles only available on some consoles.