Baldur’s Gate 3 Release Time: When Can You Install and Play the Game?

Baldur’s Gate 3 has captured the hearts and minds of RPG fans ever since Larian Studios announced the game in 2019. Not only is the title the latest entry in a beloved franchise that put BioWare on the map (and hadn’t seen a sequel in over 20 years), but the company behind Divinity: Original Sin 2 (one of the greatest CRPGs of this generation) is at the helm. Fans of all parties and properties involved are eagerly awaiting the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, and it certainly can’t be released soon enough. Well, Baldur’s Gate 3 is finally ready. When, exactly, you can play it (and if your computer or console is ready for the game) is another story.

Technically, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been available since October 2020 as an Early Access title, but that version was woefully incomplete (despite its impressive offerings) and lacked certain races, classes, and even entire story acts. Then again, without the feedback Larian received from Early Access participants, the release version probably wouldn’t be as polished as it is shaping up to be.

Baldur’s Gate 3 will officially launch on August 3rd for PC (via Steam and GOG) at 8 AM PDT, 10 AM CT, 11 AM EST, and 4 PM GMT. As you can see, the game is following a global release schedule, which unfortunately won’t do gamers on the other side of the International Date Line any favors. Baldur’s Gate 3 fans in Japan will have to wait until midnight on August 4th to play the game, and New Zealand gamers won’t be able to start until 3 AM NZST on the same day. It all ultimately works out the same in the end, but it does mean that you won’t be able to use the “New Zealand Trick” to play the game early (not that you can really do so via PC in the first place).

If you’re looking for more release time info, here’s a map image of Baldur Gate 3‘s official release time schedule that developer Larian shared a few days ago:

Speaking of console gamers, they’ll have to wait even longer for Baldur’s Gate 3. The PlayStation 5 version won’t launch until September 6, but when it does, odds are the port will follow a similar release schedule. Xbox Series X/S owners, meanwhile, will have to wait an indeterminate amount of time since Larian is having some technical troubles getting split-screen co-op to work on the console. Some reports suggest the Xbox version of the game may not be available until 2024, and there’s been no indication that the game will ever be available for Nintendo Switch.

While most gamers still have to wait a few more days for Baldur’s Gate 3 (more for anyone who wants the game on a console) at least gamers can spend that time preparing. And by preparing, I mean cleaning out hard drives.

While the GOG page claims Baldur’s Gate 3 will require only 70.3 GB, the Steam page states Baldur’s Gate 3 will need 150 GB. However, the truth may be somewhere in the middle (at least depending on the platform). As of writing, Baldur’s Gate 3 takes up 122 GB on PC. Even worse, you can’t preload Baldur’s Gate 3 ahead of its release.

Even if you have the world’s fastest download speeds, you won’t be able to start playing Baldur’s Gate 3 the second it is available. On the bright side, though, if you participated in Baldur’s Gate 3’s early access and need to squeeze a few more bytes out of your computer, you can always delete your Early Access save files since they won’t work with the release version. As for the PS5 port, nobody knows how much SSD space that version will require quite yet.