South Park makes Baldur's Gate 3 joke, Larian quickly corrects it

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A South Park gag about Baldur's Gate 3 cross-saves earns it a talking-to from the developer.

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(Image credit: South Park)

It's not quite the leviathan of TV satire it once was, but there must still be some thrill in seeing South Park reference something you've made. No one needed the rude cartoon boys to confirm that Baldur's Gate 3 has been a huge success, but a joke about cross-dimensional BG3 save files in the latest South Park special does underscore how wildly mainstream the D&D RPG has gone.

But like a good, stern DM who doesn't let the rules go out the window just because the players are joking around, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios was quick to log an objection to the gag. Greeting the show with a wonderfully dry "Hello @SouthPark," the studio pointed out that the joke misrepresents BG3's cross-save capabilities. 

The special, called South Park: Joining the Panderverse, premiered on Paramount+ today, and based mostly on the trailer, has to do with an alternate South Park universe influenced by the show's take on 'diverse casting.' All you need to know in this context is that it involves a multiverse, which is where Baldur's Gate 3 comes in.

In a scene posted on X, alternate reality Cartman (played by Janeshia Adams-Ginyard) complains that she's "already like 50 hours into Baldur's Gate 3" but has to start a new game. "Do save games not cross between multiple universes?" she asks.

Stan responds: "Save games don't even cross between PCs and PS5s, why would they cross between multiple universes?"

As Larian pointed out in its response, however, Baldur's Gate 3 save games can be shared between PCs and PS5s.

"While Baldur's Gate 3 saves can't cross multiversal barriers, we can confirm they do actually transfer between PC and PS5," the studio wrote.

It would've been a decent gag otherwise, but so it goes. The larger joke driving the scene (the clip in the embedded post above isn't the entirely of BG3's cameo) is better, but I'll leave it unspoiled.

There's no word on whether Larian plans to support cross-universe saves in the future, but we'll ask the next time we're in touch with its director of multiversal communications. If you want to use Baldur's Gate 3's cross-platform saving feature in this universe, you can do so with a Larian account.

Tyler Wilde
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.