Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access release delayed into October

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Larian wants time to work out some last-minute issues.

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3, which was scheduled to launch into Early Access a week from today on September 30, will need a little more time before it's ready to go. Larian Studios announced today that the release has been pushed back by a week, to October 6, in order to fix up some last-minute stability and localization issues.

"Our guiding principle for early access is that it's fine for there to be smaller bugs or a few things that are lacking polish, but it needs to offer a fun gameplay experience with as few crashes as possible," the studio said. 

"We're nearly there but we have a few unexpected delays, and we still have some stability issues we're sifting through. Because of the delays, our translations are also later than expected and we want to ensure localization for the announced early access languages is strong enough for our international fans to have a good time."

Larian expects that a week should be all it needs to ensure that everything is up to snuff, but also warned that the game hasn't been run through its "World Tester" tool. That process is now underway, "and the results are looking good but not perfect yet," suggesting that a longer delay is possible if things suddenly go south.

Even so, the studio is optimistic, or at least hopeful. "Early access is going to launch on October 6 on Stadia, Steam, and GOG," it said. "It is. It really is."

The early access release of Baldur's Gate will cost $60, whenever it arrives, making it Larian's most expensive PC game ever despite not being finished. This is why.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.