With Baldur’s Gate 3 just a few days away, Larian Studios has revealed that players will not be able to preload ahead of launch.
The latest instalment in the Baldur’s Gate series is set to launch on August 3 after spending just under three years in early access.
Now it seems that despite a hefty download, it will not be available to pre-load which is bad news for those out there with a slower internet connection.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Will Not Offer Players The Chance To Preload
This news comes courtesy of Larian who revealed the news earlier today via Steam.
“Baldur’s Gate 3 will launch on August 3rd at 5pm Gent time, or your non-Belgian timezone equivalent as shown [below],” the developers said. “There will be no pre-loading of the game before then.
“The full release of the game weighs in at approximately 122 GB. Please note that your early access save games will not be compatible at launch; however, so much has changed that it’s really worth it to start afresh.”
As you can see, despite many people having played the game in early access, any currently saved games will not carry over onto full launch. Additionally, Baldur’s Gate 3 has changed significantly during this period.
“There might be a few bytes that are the same but basically it’s going to be a full reinstall,” said Larian boss Sven Vincke.
Why No Pre-load?
For those with slow internet (such as myself), this is not the best news for such a large game. However, the reason behind the lack of pre-load seems to be due to Steam itself.
This is because pre-loading a game will download the required files but keep them encrypted until the game’s launch. However, as the game has been available for three years, Steam is unable to encrypt files that are already available.
Read: Lady Dimitrescu Voice Actor Returns As Baldur’s Gate 3 Villain, Orin The Red
So it seems it will be the battle of the internet connection when the game launches on August 3.
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