Wizards Of The Coast is a fool for not bringing Baldur's Gate 3 to Nintendo Switch 2.

Ever since the Nintendo Switch 2 was announced, I believed it would be a perfect fit for Baldur's Gate 3. Larian Studios' RPG masterpiece took over the world when it released in 2023, and much of this love has yet to cool down.

Thousands of people are still playing and discovering new things about it every day, and despite the ongoing controversy, the hype for Larian's next project remains high. Gamers love Baldur's Gate 3 and think it's the kind of experience they'll replay again and again for years, regardless of platform. This love could have extended to the Nintendo Switch 2, but unfortunately Wizards of the Coast seems to have had other ideas.

Why isn't Baldur's Gate 3 coming to Nintendo Switch 2?

Baldur's Gate 3 went on a strange journey before coming to consoles. The early access PC version has been in development for several years and has attracted a passionate audience who have helped provide consistent feedback to Larian to create the best RPG possible. I didn't play much of this game myself during early access, but I knew from friends and colleagues that this game was going to be something special.

Nonetheless, I don't believe anyone, including Larian, thinks Baldur's Gate 3 will dominate like it did. Millions of people have been ready and waiting for a grand RPG that isn't afraid to challenge itself with unforgiving combat and harsh narrative choices while telling an ambitious story with characters that feel like living, breathing beings. The actors behind them have become gaming celebrities in their own right, and the likes of Astarion, Karlach, and Shadowheart have already made their mark on gaming history.

Jaheira holding out her hand in Baldur's Gate 3.

In a world where many role-playing games offer only the illusion of depth and choice, Larian has been able to leverage years of in-house crafting experience and deliver an adventure like no other in a character-driven RPG. I, along with many others, upgraded my PC to be able to view Baldur's Gate 3 in its best form. Since there wasn't a console version available and it wasn't going to be released any time soon, we jumped elsewhere.

When the PS5 version came out, I was ready. And it was a great way to play a game with beautiful graphics, decent performance, and most of the features we became accustomed to with its PC release. No, you couldn't install mods, but over time it came with updates that added new gameplay, narrative, and quality-of-life improvements. Xbox lagged behind due to the fact that co-op denied it good play on the Series S, but it gained similar popularity on Microsoft consoles once this requirement was no longer an issue.

The Nintendo Switch 2 may have completed the three because we know it's more than capable of running on the hardware, considering that a Steam Deck version exists and similar ports have been pushing the console to surprising positions lately. Unfortunately, Larian founder Swen Vincke confirmed that won't happen, at least not for now.

Baldur's Gate 3 would feel right at home on the Nintendo Switch 2.

There are three Baldur's Gate party members next to Switch 2.

In a Reddit AMA last week designed to address the generative AI issues surrounding Divinity late last year, Vincke spoke briefly about Baldur's Gate 3 for Switch 2: “We wanted to do that, but we couldn’t make the decision.”

That's all that was said. But considering the relationship Larian currently has with Wizards of the Coast, the brevity of this response still gives us plenty to read. After the success of Baldur's Gate 3, WotC was very eager for Larian to work on a sequel, but the studio instead decided to pursue its next game as an original project set in a world over which it had complete creative control.

Perhaps the relationship will be complicated, and Larian will not be in a position to return to Baldur's Gate 3 to do some porting work when the once-prosperous partnership now no longer exists. That makes sense, because I hate showing up at a scorned partner's doorstep and asking for forgiveness purely for money.

Villagers are singing and dancing in the Divinity reveal trailer.

I don't think this would rule out WotC or Larian outsourcing this port to another studio, but I wouldn't claim to understand exactly how it could be done.

Maybe it's a similar situation with the Xbox Series S port, and not all expected features like co-op and modes will work properly on Switch 2, but Nintendo doesn't have the same stringent level of quality control as Microsoft. There's no way to know why BG3 isn't coming to the recently released hybrid consoles, but we do know that it sucks.

The game would no doubt have sold millions of copies on the platform and exposed it to a whole new audience. But the potential fallout between Larian and WotC means that wasn't meant to be. Things may change one day, but don't hold your breath for now.