Leaked Email Shows Microsoft Severely Underestimating Baldur’s Gate 3

A leaked FTC email from May 2022 reveals Microsoft didn't expect Baldur's Gate 3 to be a massive success.

Story Highlights

  • Microsoft only expected to pay about $5 million to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox Game Pass.
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 couldn’t launch on Xbox consoles alongside its PC release because the Xbox Series S could not run split-screen co-op.
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 is now expected to release on Xbox later this year.

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.

The list shows the details of the games and the expected amount that Microsoft will have to offer to bring these games to Xbox Game Pass.
The list shows the details of the games and the expected amount that Microsoft will have to offer to bring these games to Xbox Game Pass.

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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.

Jedi Survivor, Suicide Squad, and Mortal Kombat Next have been listed with an exceptionally high expected partner ask amount.
Jedi Survivor, Suicide Squad, and Mortal Kombat Next have been listed with an exceptionally high expected partner ask amount.

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.

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Fahad is a news reporter at eXputer with a huge passion for fighting games. For the past year, he has been utilizing his skills to report on the latest and greatest in the gaming industry. Side by side with his bachelor's in computer science, Fahad has also acquired a certification in English for Journalism from Coursera. Fahad now dedicates all his time to either playing video games or reporting news at eXputer.

Experience: 1+ Years || Covers News Stories at eXputer || Bachelor's in Computer Science.

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