Baldur’s Gate 3 studio says it understands Microsoft underestimating game

Earlier this week, Microsoft was party to a monumental set of leaks that detailed everything from console plans to video game roadmaps. It also revealed email exchanges between Microsoft’s execs, where Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and others discussed potential games for the company’s Game Pass subscription service.

One such game was Baldur’s Gate 3, the recent hit from developer Larian. As we previously reported, Microsoft estimated it would take $5m to get Baldur’s Gate 3 on Game Pass, with the company dubbing the game a “second-run Stadia PC RPG”.

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Needless to say, given the huge success of Baldur’s Gate 3, Microsoft underestimated its potential. But Larian isn’t mad about this. Rather, it has said it understands the situation, with the studio’s director of publishing Michael Douse saying it “comes with the genre”.

Replying to an article that spotlighted Microsoft’s underestimation of Baldur’s Gate 3, Douse noted that “everyone else” had also done the same.

“Same with [Divinity: Original Sin 2]… There just isn’t any existing data that could have told anyone how [Baldur’s Gate 3] was going to perform,” Douse stated. “We just had to take giant spooky leaps.”

These giant spooky leaps have worked wonders for the studio, with Baldur’s Gate 3 receiving scores of praise across the board from the media and players. In our own four star review, contributor Ruth Cassidy said Baldur’s Gate 3 “achieves its quest to be Tabletop Roleplaying: The Video Game, with a to-and-fro of distinctive scenes that invite you to pay attention to them, and reward you generously for responding thoughtfully”.

It wasn’t a flawless release, however, with several bugs being reported in the game. Larian has since been releasing a number of hotfixes and chunky patches to address Baldur’s Gate 3’s issues, with the next patch currently expected for tomorrow (22nd September).

The studio has said this will be another big one, so stay tuned for more details soon.

As for Microsoft, Xbox’s Phil Spencer has addressed this week’s mega-leak, calling the confidential Microsoft documents inadvertently made public as part of the company’s court battle with the FTC “old”.

Xbox will “share [its] real plans when we are ready,” Spencer stated.