Baldur's Gate 3 release dates moved, new details about final release revealed

Baldur's Gate 3 is arriving early - or late, depending on your preferred platform. Developer Larian Studios has announced that the long-in-development follow-up to the legendary Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG has a new release date on PC and on PS5. The game will now launch on August 3, 2023 on PC, several weeks early. On PS5, however, it'll launch on September 6, 2023, about a week later. The game was originally scheduled to ship on both platforms simultaneously on August 31, 2023. In a Steam Community update post, Larian also revealed more details about the gameplay systems, including new classes, races, and companions.

Regarding the release date shift for Baldur's Gate 3, Larian stated that the studio was moving "in order of platform readiness". Thus, the PS5 version is being delayed slightly, as Larian has targeted a performance benchmark of 60FPS on PS5. According to Larian Studios Director of Publishing Michael Douse, the busy launch period of early September 2023 made "holding back the PC version when we knew we'd be ready [feel] like the wrong move." He added that "This means the PC version of Baldur's Gate 3 will be released at a time where you'll have more time to play it." Players who pre-ordered the physical Collector's Edition of the game on will receive theirs around August 31, the originally scheduled launch date. PC buyers of the CE will have a Steam code emailed to them earlier so they can start playing while waiting for their swag.

Though he didn't mention them specifically, September 2023 also holds the launch windows of other major RPG releases, including the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, and Starfield, the next open-world RPG from Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Game Studios.

Larian also used the Community Update to highlight some of the details coming in the final release version of Baldur's Gate 3. These include the final level cap, as well as two new playable races and classes.

The release edition level cap of Baldur's Gate 3 will be level 12, up from an initial target of level 10. The current Early Access version of the game is capped at level 5.

The two new races revealed are Dragonborn and Half-Orcs. Though half-orcs are a classic Dungeons & Dragons option, Dragonborn are relatively new to Baldur's Gate's Forgotten Realms setting. Larian also confirmed that Dwarf players will be able to select Duergar dwarves as their subrace in character creation. As such, the launch version of Baldur's Gate 3 will feature 11 playable races, with 23 subraces divided between them.

Larian also updated its launch-day class list, revealing that it is adding the Monk class. At launch, the game will feature 12 playable classes and 46 subclasses.

Finally, Larian promised more reveals at its Panel From Hell: Release Showcase stream event, which is scheduled for July 7, 2023.

Baldur's Gate 3 is in development for PC and PS5, and will launch on August 3, 2023 and September 6, 2023, respectively. The Xbox Series X|S version is planned but does not have a release window yet.