Larian promises to print “a fuck-ton of discs.”
Even if you already own a digital copy of Baldur’s Gate 3, you might want to double dip for the upcoming physical release of Larian Studios’ Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It comes with not only Baldur’s Gate 3 on multiple discs, but also a sick Mind Flayer poster, a cloth map, and a physical box designed to sit alongside the original Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2 boxes.
Larian announced Thursday that the physical Baldur’s Gate 3: Deluxe Edition for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X will be available in Q1 2024 for $79.99. The physical version of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be sold and restocked exclusively on Larian’s website, where it is currently available for pre-order.
The advantage of Larian selling it directly is that the developer isn’t engaging in any shady behavior by artificially scarcity the deluxe edition. “Players needn’t panic if they lose out on the initial batch,” Larian said in a news release.
Here is what is included:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 game discs and box
- Original soundtrack on three CDs
- Cloth world map
- Two fabric patches
- 32 stickers (including a fun Intellect Devourer sticker!)
- Baldur’s Gate 3 poster
The game will be available on disc for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The PS5 version is two discs long, while the Xbox version is three discs long. On PC, a DVD contains a custom installer and a Steam key. The Collector’s Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian included a variety of physical items, such as dice and Magic: The Gathering cards, but no actual discs.
Larian also stated that the physical Baldur’s Gate 3: Deluxe Edition will include all of the bonuses found in the game’s digital deluxe edition, specifically the following:
- Divinity Item Pack
- Bard Song Pack
- Exclusive Dice Skin
- Paintings from Rivellon
- Adventurer’s Pouch
- Digital OST
- Digital Artbook
- Digital Character Sheets
Larian fans can probably expect more of the same from the studio.
“This experiment is what we feel the future of physical media looks like, at least for us at Larian,” said Michael Douse, director of publishing at Larian, in a statement. “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.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available for the Mac, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC. The Xbox Series X and Series S versions will be available in December, but Larian has not specified a specific date.