Following a bit of a premature release yesterday, Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 8 stress test is now officially underway on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, giving select participants the opportunity to explore a range of new features ahead of its full release – with split-screen co-op support for Xbox Series X/S being the surprise inclusion.
Developer Larian shared details of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8 back in November, promising the likes of sub-classes, cross-play, new camera features, and more. However it noted it would holding a stress test ahead of a full launch – in order to help it “catch things before they can become an issue” – and registrations have been to participate since then.
And now, the first wave of invites have gone out to successful applicants, and Patch 8 is now live. Larian’s accompanying blog post has additional details covering the fundamentals. These include notes on using mods during cross-play, as well as instructions on requesting additional stress test keys for participants wishing to explore cross-play with friends not yet in the test.
The big surprise, though, is confirmation that Patch 8 will also finally introduce split-screen co-op to Xbox Series S after an extremely long wait. The feature has proven to be a bit of a headache for Larian, and was initially blamed for Baldur’s Gate 3’s delayed release on Xbox back in 2023, as the studio struggled to optimise it sufficiently for Microsoft’s lower-spec console. In the end, Series S split-screen was dropped completely and wasn’t included the the game released for Xbox Series X/S in December 2023.
And it seemed like that was that. But now – more than 12 months later – Larian has confirmed the feature has made the cut for Patch 8, which will be Baldur’s Gate 3’s very last content update. There’s mot much more to report on its inclusion, however, with Larian simply noting stress test participants on Xbox can try it out early starting today.
Larian has yet revealed how long it expect the stress test to last before Patch 8’s full release, but Baldur’s Gate 3 players eager to get involve can still register their interest on the developer’s website.