It’s been a very long time since we have had a game that requires a large number of disks for a physical version. In recent years two disks have become rare, such as in the case of Horizon Forbidden West and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but do happen from time to time. In the case of Baldur’s Gate 3 however, it appears that a total of four disks are required for the physical edition on the Xbox Series X.
The retail version of 2023’s game of the year-winning RPG which uses the 5th edition Dungeon & Dragon ruleset was originally set to ship in just over three disks. This number has been revised after the studio came in just 500MB over the limit and felt it prudent to use another disk.
Larian Director of Publishing Micheal Douse officially confirmed this, stating:
The Xbox retail version of Baldur’s Gate 3 will indeed have four discs, since we’re 500MB over the limit for three. Only option would have been to cut some content out but that didn’t make sense, so confirming four.
As a result of this setback, Douse warned that Xbox retail copies of the game will probably not meet their expected first wave release window of March 25th, and instead will slip to the first week of April. The PlayStation 5 version has already been announced to feature two disks, while the PC version launches on just one that hosts a custom installer and a Steam key.
Before this Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, which included the physical game as well as its Phantom Liberty expansion, launched on 3 disks. This was the most disks a game had launched on the platform before Baldur’s Gate 3. Both of these games put Square Enix’s bragging about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth needing two disks, something that factored heavily into the game’s marketing, to shame.
This is not the first time that Baldur’s Gate 3 has struggled with its release on the Xbox. Previously Sony received several months of unintended console exclusivity, with the game releasing in September for PS5 and December for Xbox Series S/X, due to forced Parity on the Xbox.
This feature is required, outside of graphical and performance modes, for games to be released on the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S featuring the same exact gameplay elements, with no features being cut. Baldur’s Gate 3 became the first title to actually be permitted to break this however, cutting split-screen co-op on the S which had been the predominant issue holding back the platform launch.
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