Baldur’s Gate 3 soars to second biggest PC launch of the year

Baldur’s Gate 3 is finally here. While early access has been live for more than three years, the game’s official launch has now catapulted it through Steam Charts as thousands jump in with the finished product.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year and excitement for launch has been ramping up over the past few months. Larian Studios have constructed an intriguing albeit tight pre-release hype train of bear sex and villain reveals.

The game wears its horny heart on its sleeve to the point where even its own writers are taken aback. The age-old adage has proven true though, sex sells, and so does Baldur’s Gate 3.

Credit where it’s due, Larian’s game is a massively deep RPG with unparalleled freedom of choice and that’s obviously contributed to its success. So much so that Baldur’s Gate 3 is now officially the second biggest launch on Steam thus far in 2023.

Baldur's Gate III has reached 400k+ concurrent players, becoming the 2nd Biggest Steam Launch of 2023 by players, only behind Hogwarts Legacy2023 Top 31. Hogwarts Legacy – 879,3082. Baldur's Gate III – 418,991+3. Sons of The Forest – 414,257A truly spectacular performance pic.twitter.com/xN7VSRHiFo

— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) August 3, 2023

How many people are playing Baldur’s Gate 3?

471,897 players were logged in at the game’s 24-hour peak according to SteamCharts, and the day isn’t over. It currently sits behind only Hogwarts Legacy and ahead of Sons of the Forrest in this year’s top three launches.

At the time of writing, it has Steam’s second-highest number of concurrent players, eclipsed only by CS:GO. Just shy of half a million people are currently adventuring through the Forgotten Realms.

It’s an impressive feat that’s not lost on fans of the game. “It would be only fair to remind everyone Hogwarts Legacy had one of the biggest marketing campaigns in years,” one Twitter user said. “Baldur’s Gate 3 on the other hand is relying almost exclusively on word of mouth.”

Others in the comments were promising to bump these numbers before the day is out. “Day job people like myself are about to make this number jump!” one said. “Once I get off work, that number will go up by at least one!” vowed another.

There’s no hard data on scores for Baldur’s Gate 3 yet thanks to a tight pre-release media window but reviews in progress praise its intriguing stories and captivating gameplay.

If you’re one of the nearly half a million people playing Baldur’s Gate 3 at launch and you want some helpful tips to give you an edge in the Forgotten Realms, check out our huge list of guides.

Best Sorcerer build | Best Bard build | Best Fighter build | Best Ranger build | Best Barbarian build | Best Druid build | Best Warlock build | Does Baldur’s Gate 3 have crossplay & cross-platform progression? | Can you play Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam Deck? | Baldur’s Gate 3 voice actors for all characters | How long is Baldur’s Gate 3? | Baldur’s Gate 3 pre-release bonuses & edition differences | Is Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to Xbox? | Is Baldur’s Gate 3 single-player? | Baldur’s Gate 3 Mind Flayers explained | Baldur’s Gate 3 proficiency explained | Illithid powers explained