If it had been up to Larian, Baldur’s Gate 3 would already be on Nintendo Switch 2 – but Swen Vincke has now made it clear that the decision wasn’t theirs to make.
The award-winning cRPG Baldur’s Gate 3 was never realistically going to run on the original Nintendo Switch. This was previously demonstrated through a test carried out on a modified console with twice the memory (8 GB instead of 4 GB), which still couldn’t handle Larian’s RPG.
The Nintendo Switch 2, however, is an entirely different class of hardware. In some respects, it even appears stronger than the Xbox Series S – a console that can run the game, though not especially well. And the idea of a Switch 2 version never sounded far-fetched in the first place: several demanding titles have already seen successful Switch ports over the years, including Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. On top of that, the Steam Deck-native version of Baldur’s Gate 3 has shown major improvements over time.
Adding fuel to the speculation, insider Nate the Hate said last year that he had heard Baldur’s Gate 3 could be coming to Nintendo’s new console.
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All in all, there were plenty of reasons to believe the Switch 2 port would eventually happen. However, during Larian’s Reddit AMA, CEO Swen Vincke struck a notably negative tone regarding the topic. He stated that the studio would have loved to port Baldur’s Gate 3 to Nintendo Switch 2, but it wasn’t their decision to make. Many took that wording as a potential hint that the issue may lie with the IP holder, Wizards of the Coast.
Larian has since chosen to step away from Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC plans and from developing a sequel, instead focusing on a completely different project (which ultimately became a new Divinity game). Fans have long suspected that a rift formed between Larian and Wizards of the Coast, even though Larian has publicly insisted that its decision had nothing to do with the company.
Later, on the ResetEra forum, Nate the Hate added that he had heard the situation was complicated, and that Larian’s relationship with Wizards of the Coast also factored into why the port didn’t happen. The question now is whether Wizards of the Coast will seek another developer to bring the hugely successful RPG to Switch 2.
Last month it was also announced that Baldur’s Gate 3 has sold over 20 million copies – a figure that would have been nearly unimaginable for a cRPG before Larian’s breakout hit. With the Switch 2 user base expanding rapidly, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where several million additional copies wouldn’t sell on that platform as well.
