Baldur’s Gate 3 has moved up to the number one best-selling pre-order item for the PlayStation 5.
BenjiSales, who tracks sales data and other metrics in the video game industry, shared this statement on Twitter:
“Update: Baldur’s Gate III has now moved to the #1 Best Selling Pre-Order on PSN in the US
The stellar launch of the PC version is definitely having a big positive impact on the upcoming PlayStation 5 versions performance”
The announcement swayed Michael Douse, Larian Studios’ Director of Publishing, to share this response via quote tweet:
“760k concurrents, and apparently number one preorder in the US on PS5. The real Spider-Man.”
It’s incredible, but also admittedly, unexpected success, for a game in a genre that has been regarded as unpopular for a very long time.
But no one will dispute that the accolades are well-earned. Larian Studios already built a stellar reputation for themselves as the top studio in turn based RPGs. That they were then given the license to one of the most venerable and successful RPG franchises of all time, was tantamount to unlocking their full market potential.
It can be compared directly to Elden Ring, a game that combined the growing popularity of FromSoftware, to the blockbuster success of an author in George R. R. Martin. With Elden Ring, FromSoftware made certain accommodations for a game that had a greater potential to cross over than even their most successful prior games. Subsequently, it became one of the most critically acclaimed and best selling games on the PlayStation 5 on the year of its release. It also certainly became a selling point for the PlayStation 5.
Just like that, Baldur’s Gate 3 was an opportunity for Larian Studios to make new fans out of Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons and Dragons fans new and old. A lot of the hype for this game was the return of the franchise, a lot was Larian’s involvement, and a whole lot were fans looking forward to the combination of the two.
Now, we should also acknowledge that there may be a console war aspect to all this. Larian Studios recently got embroiled in some controversy over not being able to finish their port of Baldur’s Gate 3 to the Xbox Series S. With the PlayStation 5 release quickly following the PC release, Larian Studios will definitely be riding that momentum over to PlayStation. Some fans may also see this as making some kind of statement.
But success should also breed success. If Baldur’s Gate 3 continues its momentum on PlayStation 5, that will only make Xbox fans even hungrier for Larian to finish their port and released it on Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.
