Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8 Introduces Highly Anticipated Break-Up Co-Op Feature for Xbox Series S
After a slightly rocky start yesterday,
Developer Larian outlined Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8 back in November, guaranteeing 12 new sub-classes, cross-play, new camera features, and more. At that time, it revealed it would be conducting a closed stress test prior to a full launch – to help “identify issues before they become problematic” – with registrations having been open since then.
Now, the initial round of invitations has been sent out to successful candidates, and Patch 8’s stress test is live. Larian shares some important details regarding the release in an accompanying blog post, providing notes on using mods during cross-play, as well as guidance on requesting additional keys for participants wanting to check out cross-play with online players not yet included in the test.
The major revelation, however, is that Patch 8 will finally bring split-screen co-op to Xbox Series S after a prolonged wait. This feature has posed a considerable challenge for Larian, which was initially cited as a reason for Baldur’s Gate 3’s postponed launch on Xbox in 2023, as the studio struggled to optimize it effectively for Microsoft’s lower-spec console. Ultimately, split-screen co-op for Series S was dropped entirely and was not available when the game eventually launched for Xbox Series X/S in December 2023.
It seemed like that was the end. However, now – over a year later – Larian has announced that the feature has made it into Patch 8, meaning it just squeaked into Baldur’s Gate 3’s final content update. There isn’t much more to report on its inclusion, though, with Larian simply noting that stress test participants on Xbox can try it out early.