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Baldur's Gate III Devs Open Up About Stadia Exclusivity, Suggest Game Wouldn't Run On PS4/Xbox One

Baldur's Gate III will release in Early Access on Stadia, too.

74 Comments

Baldur's Gate III has been unveiled, featuring a turn-based combat system and some powerful cinematics. Now, with the game being shown at PAX East, more information is coming to light about the game as outlets talk to the creative forces behind it. One that that has come up a few times is the fact that the game is skipping PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but will be available for Google Stadia.

Talking to Eurogamer, design producer David Walgrave says that he isn't convinced the game would run efficiently on the other consoles. "I don't think that current-gen consoles would be able to run it," Walgrave says. "There's a lot of technical upgrades and updates that we did to our engine, and I don't know if it would be capable of being able to actually run on those things."

He concedes that it might work if they tweaked the textures, but "It wouldn't look as cool anymore." He also says that the game will come to PC and Stadia simultaneously in early access; although Stadia does not have an official term for Early Access as of yet, he says that it will largely be the same as it is on PC.

Meanwhile, speaking to USGamer, Walgrave has spoken further on working with the Stadia platform. "We know where they're going, we know what to implement with their API, so we just implement that," he told the site. He says that the team "follow(s) the news" and is aware that not everyone loves the system, but that's okay--""We also think that there are certain features that we're building thanks to Stadia."

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's own interview with Larian creative director Swen Wincke about how the game will continue on the series' legacy.

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Lord_Sesshy

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No way is this game more demanding then say something like GoW 5 or Death Stranding.

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m4a5

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Edited By m4a5

I mean, there could be a lot going on for the GPU (and CPU), but skipping such a large segment of the market seems weird (even with how underpowered they are).

And If it's going on Stadia, that's gotta mean controller support anyways (so adapting controls isn't an excuse).....

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pug987

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@m4a5: They probably haven't decided if it's worth porting it to PS4 and Xbox One when by the time the game comes out, the new consoles will have been released.

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m4a5

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@pug987: Yeah, but the adoption rate for next-gen will still be much lower than the existing console base. Lots of lost potential sales at a higher price.

From a making money standpoint, it would be far better to support the old consoles, even with a hit to the visual fidelity.

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m7stech

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PS4 and XBOXXONEXXXX will be dead this holiday anyway

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@m7stech: I know you are joking but still i wanna say that the installbase of both together is about 150+ millions,it doesnt matter if these consoles are technically inferior in 10 months.

The potential sales are much higher than those of launching systems.

Google must have paid ALOT to keep it timed exclusive

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m7stech

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@sladakrobot: yes but stadia is still a pc and they always release their games on pc first, also im sure next gen consoles will have some of those social features theyre implementing for stadia but they just cant disclose it yet.

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sladakrobot

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@m7stech: Stadia is not a pc

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Hak

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@sladakrobot: Well, if you want to get pedantic, Stadia is *someone else's* PC.

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m7stech

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@sladakrobot: my bad, stadia is a giraffe

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whiteheartx

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lol what a load of BS. The game doesn't look all that great so the fact that they think it can't run on current gen consoles when there's tons of much, much more graphically demanding games on them is ridiculous.

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sladakrobot

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@whiteheartx: Especially the XbX and the PS4pro.

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m4a5

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@sladakrobot: They're not allowed to make XbX and PS4pro exclusives. It's either both or not.

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sladakrobot

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@m4a5: Thats not what i ment ;-)

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Archangel3371

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Archangel3371  Online

He says that he doesn’t think the game would run on current gen consoles so I’m guessing that they’ll bring it to the Xbox Series X and PS5 then.

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GleenCross

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@Archangel3371: If these consoles can run goddamn Red Dead 2, then a game like this who looks (at best, being generous) like dragon age inquisition can't run on these machines? Too demanding, the "textures" are a issue? C'mon, this was very bad excuse. The people who planned this response, that's horrible PR, they should be fired.

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Thanatos2k

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@Archangel3371: It's painfully obvious that is the case, but they are bound not to say anything about that yet.

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Yomigaeru

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@Archangel3371: That's what I'm thinking as well. We're right on the cusp of the new consoles coming out, so it would make sense to focus on them for development if PS4/XB1 aren't up to the task.

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gzaface

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Well, i will be passing this game then.

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Zander80

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@gzaface: Wait, you ate the game and will be passing it? I feel for you.

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Innos007666

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@gzaface: No one cares.

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gzaface

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@Innos007666: At least you care enough to reply in this post.

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Innos007666

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@gzaface: No I dont.

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