If you’re a Baldur’s Gate 3 player on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, we’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that BG3 mods for consoles will arrive with the game’s next patch! Huzzah! The bad news is that the patch is still around three months away… Darn. Even though you’ve got a little longer to wait, Larian has at least locked in a rough release date of September for Baldur’s Gate 3 mod support on consoles, along with fresh details about what’s in store.
Patch 7 of one of the best RPG games of all time will deliver that long-awaited official mod support, which paves the way for Xbox and PlayStation players to access them. An alpha for the Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit is underway as of today with a small number of BG3 modders getting their hands on it, but as mentioned, September is when it’ll be fully unleashed. Alongside this announcement, Larian has posted a lengthy FAQ about how its official support for BG3 mods will work. Within it are a few key bits of info that console players should be aware of.
The first is that you won’t be able to create any mods on your PS5 or Xbox Series X|S console. You can download and play any that come through Larian’s official mod pipeline, but the actual creation of mods via the Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit is limited to PC. This isn’t surprising, and is similar to how Bethesda’s mod toolkit works with some of its best games like Fallout 4, but it is worth flagging.
In terms of which mods make it through to PlayStation and Xbox players, “an internal curation process” will be approving suitable mods for consoles. Larian does stipulate that “not all PC mods will become available for console”, but we’re confident there will still be a huge range for you to use.
Also, you should be aware that unlike the unregulated, third-party mods that are currently circulating for BG3 on PC, there will be a few specific limitations to any official Toolkit mods.
“Baldur’s Gate 3, as a Dungeons & Dragons game licensed by our partners, has certain guidelines in place to ensure the integrity of the game’s universe,” Larian explains in its FAQ. It adds that “some NSFW mods and certain script-heavy modifications may not be supported through the official pipeline” and that due to BG3’s cross-platform support, “direct level editing and changes to core game elements (like story, cinematics, dialogues, quests, and local gameplay adjustments) can’t be facilitated”.
If you’re a little disappointed by that, we feel you, but at the end of the day console mods are never going to be as extensive and easy to implement as those on PC. Well, they won’t be in this console generation, anyway. Even if there are some limitations, getting BG3 mods on console is a huge boon for what is already one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games you can play right now. BG3’s already impressive replayability is about to go through the roof…
Alongside official mod support, Patch 7 is also adding some new evil endings to Baldur’s Gate 3. In the mods FAQ, Larian also reiterates its commitment to developing a photo mode and bringing crossplay to the game, but it sounds like they might be longer-term projects that won’t be ready for September’s update.
For more news on some of the biggest series in gaming, check out why Geoff Keighley just dashed your hopes of seeing more of Kingdom Hearts 4 in the near future. Also be sure to give us a follow on Google News as we descend into the announcement extravaganza that is Summer Game Fest.