Baldur’s Gate 3’s Hefty 3-Disc Xbox Series X Physical Edition Includes Patch 5

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The Xbox Series X physical edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 includes Patch 5 on-disc, developer Larian Studios has confirmed.

Patch 5 was announced as launching this week, and, as IGN revealed, fixes slowdown issues with Act 3 caused by Patch 4, among many other things.

Fans had wondered if this latest patch would make it onto the physical edition, which is set to launch early 2024. In a post on X/Twitter, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse confirmed the Xbox Series X physical edition will indeed ship with Patch 5 on disc. However, Larian is still working on the exact version for the PlayStation 5 edition.

The Xbox retail version, which plays across 3 discs, will ship with Patch 5 on disc. Which is really good news. These things have lead times, as you know. Working on the exact version for PlayStation 5.

— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) November 27, 2023

While the Xbox Series X version of the Baldur’s Gate 3 physical edition comes on a whopping three discs, the PS5 version ships on two discs, and the PC version just one which hosts a custom installer and comes with a Steam key.

“This experiment is what we feel the future of physical media looks like, at least for us at Larian,” Douse said in a statement alongside the announcement. “We spent the last few months learning how to do it from scratch, and put everything we learned from the Collector’s Edition into what we hope is unbeatable value for what we’re considering our standard physical version going forward. If it works out, we’ll keep doing it this way.

“We understand the value of physical media, and while there are clearly increasingly significant challenges when it comes to the archiving of games, we truly believe it’s worth experimenting, even if it means a fuck ton of discs.”

The physical edition is sold exclusively on the Larian store, where it’s currently available for preorder. The studio notes that it’s not a Collector’s Edition, so don’t panic if you can’t get your hands on it right away and certainly do not buy from scalpers.

In addition to an “oversized exclusive game box” and all existing Digital Deluxe content, the physical Deluxe Edition will also include the following:

Original soundtrack on 3 CDsCloth world mapTwo fabric patchesThirty-two stickersBaldur’s Gate 3 art poster

Larian is currently on a victory lap following the breakout success of Baldur’s Gate 3, with seven wins at the recent Golden Joysticks and eight nominations at the upcoming Game Awards. Larian is set to announce Baldur’s Gate 3’s long-awaited Xbox release date at the awards show on December 7, and has even started to tease its “next big game”.

Baldur’s Gate 3, of course, has been a massive commercial and critical success since its official release on PC in August. IGN gave it a 10/10, praising its “crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.