Leaked Email Shows Microsoft Severely Underestimating Baldur’s Gate 3

As the leaked email details suggest, Microsoft termed Baldur’s Gate 3 a ‘Second-run Stadia PC RPG.’ Additionally, Microsoft predicted that Larian Studios’s expected partner range to put the game on Xbox Game Pass would fall around the $5 million range. The deal didn’t go through at the time of the game’s launch because Baldur’s Gate 3 still had some technical issues working on the Xbox Series S.

Related Content

• Unity Says Distributors Like Microsoft Will Have To Cover New Runtime Costs
• XDefiant Indefinitely Delayed As It Fails To Pass Sony/Microsoft Certification
• Fans Discover Cool Fourth Wall-Breaking Interaction In Baldur’s Gate 3

The leaked email shows many other games, such as Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, listed with an expected partner ask of under $300 million. WB Games’ Suicide Squad and Mortal Kombat were also listed with an expected partner ask of under $250 million to bring the games to Xbox Game Pass. Meanwhile, Baldur’s Gate 3, only being listed with an expected partner range of $5 million, does raise some questions about Microsoft’s estimation regarding the game’s success.

Baldur’s Gate 3 managed to reach an all-time peak player count of 875,343 on its launch. The game remains secure on Steam’s most-played games regularly, with a concurrent player count of around 200,000 every day, even after more than a month since its launch. Note that these numbers only show the players who’ve been playing the game on PC.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was officially launched on August 3 for PC and PlayStation 5. The game was also planned to be released on Google Stadia, which had to shut down in January 2023. Larian Studio’s Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t an exclusive title. The DnD-inspired RPG was also set to release on Xbox Series consoles, but the game’s split-screen co-op didn’t work on Xbox Series S, halting the game’s release on Microsoft’s consoles.

Microsoft requires games to have all their features working on both of their consoles, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, before allowing them to launch on their platform. However, seeing the game’s massive success worldwide, Microsoft allowed Baldur’s Gate 3 to be launched on both of their consoles later this year, despite the split-screen feature not working on the Xbox Series S.