Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on Xbox, but don’t expect it on Game Pass anytime soon. Speaking with IGN in an interview soon to be published in full, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke explained why the award-winning role-playing game won’t be part of Xbox’s subscription service.
“Oh, we always said from the get-go, it wasn’t going to be on Game Pass, it’s not going to be on Game Pass,” Vincke said when asked whether Xbox had tried to pay the studio to put Baldur’s Gate 3 on the service.
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Describing it as a “sensitive question,” Vincke pointed out that Larian Studios is in the business of “making a game that has a beginning, middle, and an end.” He also touted Baldur’s Gate 3’s lack of microtransactions, which has been praised in some quarters.
“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. We don’t charge you any micro-transactions on top of it, so you get what you pay for. 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,” Vincke says.
Vincke isn’t wrong. According to IGN sister site HowLongToBeat, a completionist run in Baldur’s Gate 3 can take upwards of 144 hours. Many fans are even playing through Baldur’s Gate 3 multiple times as they try unique routes like the Dark Urge.
Vincke’s hard stance against putting Baldur’s Gate 3 on Game Pass stands in contrast to Starfield, which was available on the subscription service from launch. The closely watched launch yielded solid returns, with Starfield being the best-selling game of September 2023 in the U.S. Elsewhere, the service’s relative costs and benefits have been hotly debated, with some independent developers coming out strongly in favor of it while publishers like Take-Two called it “value destructive.”
Game Pass’ growth has slowed since last year, though Xbox did say that Starfield resulted in the biggest single day of sign-ups in the service’s history.
One way or another, Baldur’s Gate 3 probably doesn’t need Game Pass to garner notice. It’s already one of the most successful Steam games ever, and it has garnered tremendous word-of-mouth as IGN’s Best RPG of 2023 among other accolades.
For more, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 review, as well as our guide to Baldur’s Gate 3’s sex and romance options. And of course, make sure to check out all the rest of the best of 2023 as the IGN Awards continue.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
