'Baldur's Gate 3' lands on Mac September 21

AppleInsider

Larian Studios has announced that it will be rolling out its hit role-playing game, "Baldur's Gate 3," for Mac before the end of September.

Initially launched on PC in early August, Baldur's Gate 3 has become an immediate hit, and has been received by reviewers and players alike as a best game of 2023 candidate. Since then, the game has been preparing to roll out for more platforms, landing on the PlayStation 5 in Early September, and expected to appear on Xbox Series X/S before the end of the year.

However, Mac gamers can expect Baldur's Gate 3 before the end of September, with the developer saying that it will be fully supported on macOS on September 21.

Thank you from the fiery infernal engine we keep in place of our heart. We couldn't have asked for a better response to Baldur's Gate 3.

Patch 3 is coming September 21 with full support for BG3 on Mac.

Gather your party: https://t.co/t4tqKMspNm pic.twitter.com/jyUUpxCKc4

-- Larian Studios (@larianstudios)

September 13, 2023

Baldur's Gate 3

is available to purchase via Steam for $59.99.

Read on AppleInsider

mknelson

Larian hasn't been very good at communicating about the Mac release delay. It just wasn't available launch day and then almost silent since except a vague statement about releasing later in September (2.5 week delay).

On the other hand: it'll be nice to play with the 3 major and 5 (or 6) hot-fixes already in place, and hopefully tested with the Sonoma release candidate.

Panifex

mknelson said:

Larian hasn't been very good at communicating about the Mac release delay. It just wasn't available launch day and then almost silent since except a vague statement about releasing later in September (2.5 week delay).

On the other hand: it'll be nice to play with the 3 major and 5 (or 6) hot-fixes already in place, and hopefully tested with the Sonoma release candidate.

Fully agree, communication was remarkably poor for Mac release. Those of us who'd been playing on Mac in early access were pretty surprised by the delay and then we were just kept in limbo for weeks. Thankfully I also have a PC and have been able to play since launch, but I'm looking forward to playing on Mac again soon! I'm not sure how it'll shake out with the full release, but in early access my M1 Mac Studio ran BG3 noticeably smoother than my decently specced PC (RTX 2080, 32 GB RAM, etc). Fantastic game!

mknelson

Panifex said:

mknelson said:

Larian hasn't been very good at communicating about the Mac release delay. It just wasn't available launch day and then almost silent since except a vague statement about releasing later in September (2.5 week delay).

On the other hand: it'll be nice to play with the 3 major and 5 (or 6) hot-fixes already in place, and hopefully tested with the Sonoma release candidate.

Fully agree, communication was remarkably poor for Mac release. Those of us who'd been playing on Mac in early access were pretty surprised by the delay and then we were just kept in limbo for weeks. Thankfully I also have a PC and have been able to play since launch, but I'm looking forward to playing on Mac again soon! I'm not sure how it'll shake out with the full release, but in early access my M1 Mac Studio ran BG3 noticeably smoother than my decently specced PC (RTX 2080, 32 GB RAM, etc). Fantastic game!

Good to hear! I didn't try early access (too many other games in the queue), and CyberPunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is shipping about a week later. No time!

draenar

BG3 has been running great on my Mac Studio using GeForceNow.  

mknelson

draenar said:

BG3 has been running great on my Mac Studio using GeForceNow.  

Technically, that's not running on your Mac Studio… 

Japhey

mknelson said:

Panifex said:

mknelson said:

Larian hasn't been very good at communicating about the Mac release delay. It just wasn't available launch day and then almost silent since except a vague statement about releasing later in September (2.5 week delay).

On the other hand: it'll be nice to play with the 3 major and 5 (or 6) hot-fixes already in place, and hopefully tested with the Sonoma release candidate.

Fully agree, communication was remarkably poor for Mac release. Those of us who'd been playing on Mac in early access were pretty surprised by the delay and then we were just kept in limbo for weeks. Thankfully I also have a PC and have been able to play since launch, but I'm looking forward to playing on Mac again soon! I'm not sure how it'll shake out with the full release, but in early access my M1 Mac Studio ran BG3 noticeably smoother than my decently specced PC (RTX 2080, 32 GB RAM, etc). Fantastic game!

Good to hear! I didn't try early access (too many other games in the queue), and CyberPunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is shipping about a week later. No time!

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

jSnively

Japhey said:

[...]

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

Tomorrow has a bunch of goodies. Got a Night City Wire sandwiched between a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play. I don't expect a lot from the State of Play (third-party and indie focused), but the Nintendo Direct is supposed to have one banger.

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

Japhey

jSnively said:

Japhey said:

[...]

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

Tomorrow has a bunch of goodies. Got a Night City Wire sandwiched between a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play. I don't expect a lot from the State of Play (third-party and indie focused), but the Nintendo Direct is supposed to have one banger.

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

Thursday should be a fun day. Personally, I’m hoping that banger is a new F-Zero. 

I can’t wait to play BG3 once I clear through some of my backlog. I was going to get it on the PS5, but now I think I’ll get the Mac version instead. 

22july2013

fully supported on macOS

Great, then it will be available on the Apple App store, and I'll buy it. If it's not available on Apple's store, then it's not "fully supported on macOS." It's only partially supported. And then I won't buy it.

Mike Wuerthele

22july2013 said:

fully supported on macOS

Great, then it will be available on the Apple App store, and I'll buy it. If it's not available on Apple's store, then it's not "fully supported on macOS." It's only partially supported. And then I won't buy it.

So the Mac never had full software support before the Mac App Store, then.

Okay. Really strange take.

The point is, it was previously playable on Mac on streaming services. When the update arrives, then it will play on Apple Silicon on Macs. That's full support, not some strange "Only Mac App Store software is real software"

Ofer

Japhey said:

jSnively said:

Japhey said:

[...]

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

Tomorrow has a bunch of goodies. Got a Night City Wire sandwiched between a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play. I don't expect a lot from the State of Play (third-party and indie focused), but the Nintendo Direct is supposed to have one banger.

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

Thursday should be a fun day. Personally, I’m hoping that banger is a new F-Zero. 

I can’t wait to play BG3 once I clear through some of my backlog. I was going to get it on the PS5, but now I think I’ll get the Mac version instead. 

ooh, didn’t even think of F-Zero! I’d love to play a new modernized version of the game!!!! I’d also love to see Nintendo update the Switch with better specs. It’s been over 6 years since its initial release with the only update being an OLED screen. It’s getting a bit long in the tooth. I’m not expecting a new Switch to be announced this year, but I really hope they come out with something better early next year.

Ofer

Japhey said:

jSnively said:

Japhey said:

[...]

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

Tomorrow has a bunch of goodies. Got a Night City Wire sandwiched between a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play. I don't expect a lot from the State of Play (third-party and indie focused), but the Nintendo Direct is supposed to have one banger.

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

Thursday should be a fun day. Personally, I’m hoping that banger is a new F-Zero. 

I can’t wait to play BG3 once I clear through some of my backlog. I was going to get it on the PS5, but now I think I’ll get the Mac version instead. 

Regarding F-Zero: just watched the Nintendo direct announcement. That was really disappointing. I was hoping for a modern remake of the game. Instead it’s the original and only available as an online option for people who subscribe to Nintendo’s subscription service. Boo!!!!!

mpantone

jSnively said:

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

It might end up being GOTY on macOS however I'm not sure that's a category that really matters to anyone but a handful of Mac gamers and Apple media sites like this one.

BD3 has serious GOTY competition from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. They are neck-and-neck atop this year's leaderboards at Metacritic and Opencritic. My money is on the Nintendo title. Remember that there are 125+ million Switch units. And Nintendo titles have a different sales curve than PC or other console platforms. Nintendo sales are spread out over a longer duration.

That said, I applaud Larian for bringing BD3 to macOS. This game has two very distinct playing styles: solo and multiplayer. Watching solo play is generally a snoozefest, great for the one whose is playing. Multiplayer is totally different, more like genuine old-school tabletop D&D with so many moments of hilarity just from party interaction.

But for sure, BG3 is not the runaway GOTY winner with three months left in 2023. Not by a longshot.

Hreb

Any word if the macos port will be based on the DirectX 11 version or the vulkan version of the engine for Baldur's Gate 3?  Perhaps a compatibility layer wrapped around either?  Or a completely separate metal implementation (unlikely)?

mpantone

Hreb said:

Any word if the macos port will be based on the DirectX 11 version or the vulkan version of the engine for Baldur's Gate 3?  Perhaps a compatibility layer wrapped around either?  Or a completely separate metal implementation (unlikely)?

According to PCGamingWiki

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Baldur's_Gate_3

there is both Metal API and Arm executable support.

I'll take that with a large grain of salt and wait for analyses after the actual macOS launch. For sure there are people in a closed beta playing as we speak. I'm not a game developer and I don't have any working knowledge of the Divinity 4.0 engine.

I don't know if Larian intends on eventually bringing Baldur's Gate 3 to iOS but they would really need to consider Metal for good performance on iDevices. Divinity: Original 2 is available on the App Store for iPhones and iPads so we can be hopeful...

At this point in time, I think Mac gaming is more of a stepping stone to iOS gaming than an end goal. People game more on the go these days (and much more in some markets like Japan), hence the popularity of hybrid devices like Nintendo Switch and the emergence of mobile PC gaming devices like the Steam Deck et al.

The notion of video gaming in front of a computer monitor or television set with a keyboard and mouse does not reflect today's gaming marketplace.

Marvin

mpantone said:

Hreb said:

Any word if the macos port will be based on the DirectX 11 version or the vulkan version of the engine for Baldur's Gate 3?  Perhaps a compatibility layer wrapped around either?  Or a completely separate metal implementation (unlikely)?

According to PCGamingWiki

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Baldur's_Gate_3

there is both Metal API and Arm executable support.

I'll take that with a large grain of salt and wait for analyses after the actual macOS launch. For sure there are people in a closed beta playing as we speak. I'm not a game developer and I don't have any working knowledge of the Divinity 4.0 engine.

I don't know if Larian intends on eventually bringing Baldur's Gate 3 to iOS but they would really need to consider Metal for good performance on iDevices. Divinity: Original 2 is available on the App Store for iPhones and iPads so we can be hopeful...

At this point in time, I think Mac gaming is more of a stepping stone to iOS gaming than an end goal. People game more on the go these days (and much more in some markets like Japan), hence the popularity of hybrid devices like Nintendo Switch and the emergence of mobile PC gaming devices like the Steam Deck et al.

The notion of video gaming in front of a computer monitor or television set with a keyboard and mouse does not reflect today's gaming marketplace.

There's an FAQ here:

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=874803#Post874803

"Does the macOS version support eGPU?
Yes it does.

Why do I have to upgrade my macOS version?
Baldur's Gate 3 is a native macOS application that requires Metal 2.3 features. Metal is Apple's own graphics and shader API included with macOS. To make full use of all its power, at least macOS 10.15.6 is required.

I'm interested in what's under the hood. What kind of MacOS port is this?
The macOS build of Baldur's Gate 3 does not use MoltenVK: it uses Metal 2.3. The Metal renderer is completely standalone. There is no Windows API code running, It's fully compiled by XCode 11.5.

Can I buy the game on the macOS App Store?
The macOS version is currently only available on Steam and GOG."

jSnively

Ofer said:

[...]

Regarding F-Zero: just watched the Nintendo direct announcement. That was really disappointing. I was hoping for a modern remake of the game. Instead it’s the original and only available as an online option for people who subscribe to Nintendo’s subscription service. Boo!!!!!

It's cool, but yeah ... i was hoping for them to remake it. Even acknowledging that it exists (outside of Smash) is a huge step up though. 

mpantone said:

[...]

BD3 has serious GOTY competition from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. They are neck-and-neck atop this year's leaderboards at Metacritic and Opencritic. My money is on the Nintendo title. Remember that there are 125+ million Switch units. And Nintendo titles have a different sales curve than PC or other console platforms. Nintendo sales are spread out over a longer duration.

That said, I applaud Larian for bringing BD3 to macOS. This game has two very distinct playing styles: solo and multiplayer. Watching solo play is generally a snoozefest, great for the one whose is playing. Multiplayer is totally different, more like genuine old-school tabletop D&D with so many moments of hilarity just from party interaction.

But for sure, BG3 is not the runaway GOTY winner with three months left in 2023. Not by a longshot.

ToTK was fantastic, but it's also just kinda BotW+ and I think that's going to really hurt it come awards time. BG3 easy winner for me : )

Japhey

Ofer said:

Japhey said:

jSnively said:

Japhey said:

[...]

Can’t wait for Phantom Liberty either. Did you see they are having the Night City Wire Event tomorrow?

Tomorrow has a bunch of goodies. Got a Night City Wire sandwiched between a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play. I don't expect a lot from the State of Play (third-party and indie focused), but the Nintendo Direct is supposed to have one banger.

BG3 is easily GOTY, so it's really cool to finally see it come to Mac after the delay (which all things considered wasn't too terrible.)

Thursday should be a fun day. Personally, I’m hoping that banger is a new F-Zero. 

I can’t wait to play BG3 once I clear through some of my backlog. I was going to get it on the PS5, but now I think I’ll get the Mac version instead. 

Regarding F-Zero: just watched the Nintendo direct announcement. That was really disappointing. I was hoping for a modern remake of the game. Instead it’s the original and only available as an online option for people who subscribe to Nintendo’s subscription service. Boo!!!!!

Agreed, that was a bit of a let down re: F-Zero. But I’m not discouraged because Nintendo is obviously putting a lot of effort into resurrecting some long dormant IP like this and Metroid. Hopefully this is just a first step to reacquaint gamers with F-Zero before releasing a modernized version on the Switch 2. Possibly even in VR. 

fastasleep

Mike Wuerthele said:

22july2013 said:

fully supported on macOS

Great, then it will be available on the Apple App store, and I'll buy it. If it's not available on Apple's store, then it's not "fully supported on macOS." It's only partially supported. And then I won't buy it.

So the Mac never had full software support before the Mac App Store, then.

Okay. Really strange take.

The point is, it was previously playable on Mac on streaming services. When the update arrives, then it will play on Apple Silicon on Macs. That's full support, not some strange "Only Mac App Store software is real software"

My understanding from comments on Steam is that it's an early access version that's currently available to Mac users, and that this upcoming update is the "full" version release for macOS. They don't make this clear on the Steam product page at all. But, it's available to purchase/download/run.

fastasleep

22july2013 said:

fully supported on macOS

Great, then it will be available on the Apple App store, and I'll buy it. If it's not available on Apple's store, then it's not "fully supported on macOS." It's only partially supported. And then I won't buy it.

Haha weird. The vast majority of my software isn't from or even available on the App Store. Pretty much all of my games are on Steam, too. There's nothing about them which in any way means less support for macOS than those on the App Store.