Baldur’s Gate 3 PC players will no longer have 72-hour head start for pre-ordering

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has announced that those playing the medieval open world adventure on Windows platforms will no longer be getting a 72-hour head start after its PC release date was moved up to August 3. However, PS5 users are still set to get a three-day early access period since the game’s console launch occurs much later on September 6, meaning those that pre-order it on the current gen Sony console should be able to play it on September 3.

With the Baldur’s Gate 3 release date nearly here, this change in the game’s PC release plan was clarified ahead of time through a community update that was posted on the official BG3 Steam page. In it, the developer’s announcement specifically stated that “shifting the release date – and thus communication around the Digital Deluxe Editions across PS5 and PC – came with a few complexities that we didn’t manage to communicate very well, so we though it best to clarify it here, given that a 72-hour head start on PC wouldn’t have been plausible.”

Although some within the community were predictably disappointed upon hearing that the head start for PC was removed, most were predictably understanding since the PC launch had been moved up a month earlier after all. Over on Reddit, Saiaxs said that they’re “not entirely upset” because the community gets to play it a month early and they’ve been waiting for six years. BruiserBison shared a similar reaction by saying: “I’m really not disappointed. I mean, we were originally promised 72 hours from August 31st. Now we’re basically given 672 hours before August 31st!”

With opening day nearly here, the removal of the 72-hour early head start for PC players will surely be forgotten soon enough as the third series installment’s features with its myriad quests, companions, and feats is steadily starting to amplify the excitement surrounding it. Only time will tell now if it’ll live up to the hype but based on many of the early access reviews, it seems that it’s set to do just that at launch.