The Xbox and PlayStation retail version’s of Baldur’s Gate 3: Deluxe Edition will arrive early next year. Remember the time when game disks used to work straight out the box? Well, Larian Studio’s says its disk versions will ship with the games fifth major patch update. Hopefully, this equates to a bug free experience.
Director of publishing at Larian Studios, Michael Douse (Cromwelp), shared some additional insight via X. He said that the game will ship with three physical disks for Xbox. Meaning, no need for additional downloads that take up all your time. Simply insert disk, install, and play. Nice!
In other news, scalpers are pre-ordering the coveted $80 Deluxe Edition, and are attempting to sell them for huge profits online. Thankfully, Cromwelp quickly nipped this in the bud, ensuring gamers there won’t be a stock scarcity. It’s not a limited edition, so please don’t pay more than retail price.
The Deluxe edition comes with a few nifty goodies included as follows:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 game discs and collectable game box
- Original soundtrack on three CDs
- A double sided cloth world map
- Two fabric patches
- 32 stickers
- Baldur’s Gate 3 ‘Mind Flayer’ poster
Patch 5 is huge
Larian Studio’s is touting Patch 5 as quite a substantial update. The patch will improve on gameplay, kill some bugs, increase stability, and iron out performance issues. One such nasty bug is slowing down the game’s performance to a crawl, rendering the game unplayable in some instances. “For now, we caught the nasty bug causing slowdowns and the good news is: it’s fixed in Patch 5! That, and so much more, is cooking for this week,” tweeted Cromwelp.
The slowdown issue was a direct result of a previous patch and your in-game shenanigans. According to Larian, in-game acts of theft and violence became “eternally-active,” causing slowdowns due to the memory build-up.
The age of physical media is slowly coming to an end. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Developers and digital storefronts might entice you with their discounts, but the truth is, our favourite games can disappear from existence without rhyme nor reason. Alas, let’s take solace in the fact that one of this generations GOATs will receive a physical media release.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Deluxe Edition is now available for pre-order via the official website. You can expect the game to arrive in Q1 2024, while Patch 5 should arrive by the end of the week.
