Baldur's Gate 3 hard drive requirement more than doubles ahead of Early Access launch

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

A friendly FYI for everyone looking forward to the Early Access release of Baldur's Gate 3 on October 6: The minimum hard drive requirement, which was originally listed at 70GB, has more than doubled to 150GB.

It's not clear what spurred the change, but it may be to ensure that there's room to expand in the future: A rep said the current build is actually about 80GB in size, but the Early Access release includes only the first of three acts and is missing other planned content including additional races, playable premade characters, and non-English languages.

The system requirements were first posted on Steam in August and are otherwise unchanged, and as we noted at the time they're fairly gentle on the low end. Larian said that they might be reduced even further over the course of Early Access, as optimization continues to improve.

(Update: Larian director of publishing Michael Douse said on Twitter that the install size of Baldur's Gate 3 is around 80GB, but having 150GB free is "good for u." Not everyone is satisfied with that explanation, but it's all we've got for now.)

install size is around 80gb, it doesn't take up 150. We like you having at least 150gb because that's just good for uOctober 2, 2020

If you haven't seen them yet, the full (and updated) requirements are below, and we've also got a guide to all the races and classes that will be available in the Early Access release, as well as confirmation (because let's be honest, we all wanted to know) that yes, you can have sex in Baldur's Gate 3.

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
Processor: Intel i5-4690 / AMD FX 4350
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 280X
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space

Recommended:

OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space

Thanks, PCGamesN.

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.