Following a big Microsoft leak that revealed internal discussions concerning the future of Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox Game Pass, Michael Douse, Director of Publishing at Larian Studios, has defended Microsoft. The released documents highlighted Microsoft's reservations about introducing Baldur's Gate 3 to the Game Pass subscription service, as well as discussions concerning the financial implications of the game's possible success.
Surprisingly, Microsoft considered securing the game as a day one addition to Game Pass as early as May 2022, more than a year before the actual release of Baldur's Gate 3. This estimate was revealed in an email discussion between top Xbox officials who were thinking techniques to compensate for Starfield's delay, which Microsoft's Head of Gaming, Phil Spencer, had described as "a huge hole" in their product lineup.
These internal messages also revealed Microsoft's estimates of how much it would cost to get further third-party titles for Game Pass on the day they were released. EA's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was valued at $300 million, while Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage was put somewhere in the centre at $100 million. Surprisingly, Baldur's Gate 3, a game that went on to become an immense hit, was near the bottom of the range, with an estimated cost of under $5 million.
Despite Microsoft's apparent miscalculation, Michael Douse of Larian Studios defended them, claiming that Microsoft was not alone in their underestimating. He responded to an article in which Microsoft was accused of "completely misjudging Baldur's Gate 3," noting that this was a popular view.
"In their defence, so did everyone else," Douse pointed out. "The same as DOS2. It comes with the genre, as well as the way we approach and execute things. There simply isn't any available data that could have predicted how BG3 would do. We basically had to take huge, scary jumps."
Despite the early concerns mentioned in the leaked documents, Baldur's Gate 3 is still on pace for a September to November 2023 release for the Xbox Series X/S. Only time will tell how the game is received on the platform, especially in light of Microsoft disclosures.
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