Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox port could be one step closer as Larian cracks new optimizations

An announcement from Larian CEO, Swen Vincke is fueling hope that major progress has been made on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox port.

While a console port of Baldur’s Gate 3 hit the PlayStation 5 a mere month after the game’s August 2023 PC release, Xbox users are still eagerly awaiting their chance to pick up the smash hit CRPG.

However, some recent insight into the port’s development courtesy of Larian Studios’ CEO has quelled the concerns of restless Xbox fans.

On his X account, Swen Vincke passed on a “nice present” from engineers working on Baldur’s Gate 3 — graphs showing an increase in the efficiency of the Baldur’s Gate 3’s memory management.

Larian’s optimization breakthroughs spell progress for Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox port

The graphics API named at the top of each graph is “Series S D[irect]X12” which can inferred to mean engineers are specifically focusing on establishing a suitable degree of RAM and VRAM usage during play on the Xbox Series S.

Got a nice present from our engineers. Ensuring memory is well under control and having buffer for peaks was the main thing holding us back I think this will benefit all platforms too. Still some work left but very close now. pic.twitter.com/xvtUDPFebo

— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) November 8, 2023

Many consider this to be a wise area for developers to focus on, as the reduced processing capacities of the Series S could present considerable roadblocks for a universally stable Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox port.

While the Xbox Series S has 10GB total RAM, only 8GB is VRAM meant to facilitate the graphics-related tasks. When compared to the Series X’s 10GB VRAM, it becomes clear why putting memory usage buffers in place is such a crucial part of developing a version of Baldur’s Gate 3 for both Series X and Series S.

Xbox players have said they’re pleased that Larian isn’t sitting on their laurels when it comes to porting Baldur’s Gate 3. Not to mention, as their recent implementation of FSR 2.2 shows, the studio is still hard at work trying to please handheld PC players too.