When is Balder’s Gate 3 Coming to MacOS? Is an iPad Release Possible?

After years in Early Access, Balder’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios has finally launched with tremendous success. As of writing, the CRPG has broken into Steam’s top ten for concurrent players, with the game’s peak reaching just over 800,000 users. The success of Balder’s Gate 3, though somewhat expected, was still a surprise for the developers with Larian Studios CEO, Swen Vincke even joking on Twitter by saying that the studio were at most expecting 100,000 players on Steam to be playing concurrently.

BG3 is out now on PC, with a PlayStation 5 release date slated for September 6th. The game is yet to be confirmed for the Xbox platforms, with Larian Studios mentioning that getting the game to work on Xbox Series S has been a challenge. As for macOS, in a Steam community post by the developers back in June that announced the release dates for the game, they mentioned the macOS version by by writing:

“The full Mac version will also be released at a later date, and we’ll update you as soon as we have a target.”

BG3 Release Date. Credit: Larian Studios
BG3 Release Date. Credit: Larian Studios

As of writing, that update has yet to come. Though we wouldn’t be surprised if it were announced sometime during the annual Apple event in September. The new iPhone is usually the main focus of the September events, though having BG3 be a part of a sizzle reel alongside the expected announcement of macOS 14 Sonoma wouldn’t be a bad move. For those that are impatient and want to jump on the BG3 hype train right away, there are still workarounds to play the game on your Macs. Softwares like BootCamp have long been a way for gamers to get Windows to run on their Apple computers, though it’s only compatible with non-Apple silicon devices. For all M1 and later computers, you’ll need to use applications like CrossOver. MacResearch as a pretty good guide to help you out. As for requirements, it seems most Apple computers after 2016 will be able to run the game, though with varying frame-rates and resolutions of course.

We know a Mac version of Balder’s Gate 3 is inevitable. The question now is, how about the iPad? Larian Studio’s last game, Divinity Original Sin II, is one of the biggest and best games you can get on high end iPad models; and it’s a showcase for the power of the Apple tablet. Though BG3 is also a CRPG much like DOS2, it’s a seemingly far bigger and more complex one. As such, the requirements to run the game would obviously be steeper as well. Currently, Divinity Original Sin II requires at the very least an iPad with an A14 chip, with an exception going to the 2018 iPad Pros, which are fitted with the older A12x chips. Though a quick YouTube search will show that even devices with the A14–like the older iPad Air and current 10th generation iPad—struggle to run the game seamlessly, with visible choppiness and a lowered resolution. This means that it’ll likely be that Balder’s Gate 3 would be exclusive to the M-series of iPads.

DOS2 on iPad. Credit: Larian Studios
DOS2 on iPad. Credit: Larian Studios

This would mean the game would only be available to those with either a Pro or latest generation Air, excluding those with the Mini and lower-end models, most of which are Apple’s best-selling tablets. We could be wrong, of course, as it could very well be that the game’s requirements are closer to that of DOS2, and as such be available to a wider breadth of iPads; though when comparing the Mac requirements on their respective Steam pages, it doesn’t seem likely. It may also come down less about the chipset and more about RAM. All iPads, aside from the higher storage Pros, are fitted with either four or eight gigabytes of RAM, with even less being available to developers when making their apps. According to Steam, Balder’s Gate 3 requires 8GB of RAM to run, which is far more than most iPads have at their disposal. This may very well be the hurdle that keeps the game off the tablet, and possibly the element that keeps devs from porting over their AAA games over in general.

Still, Larian have proved faithful to Apple’s line of tablets, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for us to see BG3 make its way over; just don’t expect it any time soon.


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