Key Takeaways
- Over a year after launch, Baldur’s Gate 3 is more popular than ever.
- As revealed by Larian Studios director of publishing Michael Douse, daily active users are up by 20 percent this year.
- Official mod support appears to have played an integral role, as over 40 percent of players now use custom content.
Baldur’s Gate 3 launched earlier than planned to avoid being overshadowed by Bethesda’s first new single-player RPG in nearly a decade, Starfield, but in a turn of fate, it stole the limelight completely.
It immediately went viral upon leaving early access, amassing a peak player count of 875,000, while also sweeping up awards at every gaming ceremony under the sun, including the hotly sought-after Game of the Year prize. But even with all of that critical acclaim and hype, you’d expect a single-player cRPG to have died down by now — nope.
As revealed by Larian Studios director of publishing Michael Douse, daily active users are up by 20 percent this year, and daily peak concurrents are up by three percent. As I write this, 54,000 people are playing the game (on a Monday!), with a 24-hour peak of 100,000 players.
Larian Chalks It Up To Mods
Baldur’s Gate 3 finally got official mod support in September for PC, and for console later in October. Larian Studios has since revealed that over 40 percent of players use mods, and Douse hints that this played a role in its continued popularity this year.
If Skyrim has shown anything, a bustling modding community allowed to thrive is the key to longevity. From the smaller scale custom content to entire projects full of hobbyist developers working to expand on its world, even sparking new games like The Forgotten City (our 2021 GOTY winner), mods have kept Skyrim in the limelight for over a decade. Right now, 21,000 people are playing it on Steam! Mods are indeed very good.
Baldur’s Gate 3 appears to be following in its footsteps, and it’s hardly surprising. Mods can vary from simple cosmetics like reskinned dice to entire expansions that add enormous amounts of replay value, like new classes, species, or D&D mechanics. Baldur’s Gate 3 is already an incredibly replayable game with its myriad choices, but throw in all of these mods and it’s no surprise people still haven’t left the Sword Coast.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.