Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Strong Condemnation: Baldur's Gate III MAC Version Delay

Dear Baldur's Gate III Team,

We, as MAC users, are profoundly disappointed and frustrated by the delay of the Baldur's Gate III full MAC version. This is not just a game delay; it's a betrayal of loyal fans and an unfair treatment of long-awaiting MAC users.

For years, we've faithfully supported and eagerly anticipated this exciting sequel. However, each delay announcement has felt like a dagger in our hearts, leaving us deeply disheartened. Your initially scheduled release dates have been repeatedly postponed, and this uncertainty has cast doubt on the game's quality and playability.

We understand that game development can face various challenges, but for MAC users, a clear release date is crucial. We urge you to provide a definitive timeline and ensure a flawless gaming experience on that date, rather than continually pushing it back.

As dedicated fans, we expect you to respect our patience and support and deliver an unforgettable gaming experience. MAC users should have the right to enjoy this remarkable game without being subjected to continuous delays and neglect.

We implore you to release the MAC version promptly to address our expectations and enthusiasm. Let us all embark on the adventure of Baldur's Gate III together!

Sincerely,
kema

*clap* *murmuring sfx*

You want it released “promptly” and “flawlessly.” That’s not how game development works. It will be released when Larian regard it as ready regardless of how hard you insist it arrive immediately.

why are there so many mac posts all of a sudden, each with only a couple of replies?

can this not all be condensed into one thread? it ends up looking like one person with a handful of accounts instead of multiple people supporting the same position.

Mac user here, what's with this "we"? Speak for yourself but do not presume to speak for others. I'm not "profoundly disappointed and frustrated".

Also couldn't you have just replied to one of the other Mac angst posts rather than create another one?

Because the expected Mac release date arrived with no release. There wasn’t even an announcement that the Mac version was delayed, (which should happen well in advance of the actual day) just a vague mention that the Mac version is on the way as a side note on the PS announcement.

To make matter worse, if you go to the Steam store, there’s an apple logo next to the windows logo. Mac system requirements are listed next to windows requirements, and the release date shows as 3 Aug. You can buy the game today without a single hint anywhere that the Mac version is still early access.

Someone was asking the other day why he couldn’t get multiplayer to work between his PC and the Mac version he bought for his wife.

This is just shoddy, and for once bombing the forum with multiple threads doesn’t seem unreasonable. It doesn’t matter if there aren’t many Mac users wanting to play, they are still paying customers.

The fact it was delayed isn’t the problem. It’s the complete lack of communication for those who have already bought the game or people who could buy the game now assuming that it’s already done.

Also a Mac user here. I expected a release 6th of september and I want to play now. I'm disappointed and a bit frustrated with the lack of communication, but I don't really get the rest.
For example why would "this uncertainty has cast doubt on the game's quality and playability." For me it is the opposite. If they delay the release it is a sign that they are not 100 % happy with the game and want to put in more work to make it as good as it can be. I definitely prefer that over rushing it out with bugs and performance problems that wound make it unplayable. Delays is a sign of high standards when it comes to quality and playability.

I'm fine with delays as long as they are justified and communicated properly. Especially if the delay is because the developers thinks the game is not good enough and wants to push a bit more to get it there. I guess this is the first experience with the new Metal API and the Game porting toolkit for Mac which makes it hard the get an accurate timeline.

So definitely quality over rushing the release for me, but I would really appreciate some official communication regarding this.

Also, has the Mac release really been postponed repeatedly? The only thing I have heard was early september, and that is still not impossible.

Ok, I just read the PS5 announcement where they write:
This is the only communication we have gotten as far as I have seen since the statement that you are targeting a release for September 6th over a month ago. To only get this short footnote on the supposed target release date is really sub-par communication.

As I said, I'm fine with some delays as long as it is communicated properly.

Everyone should bump this thread to get a more solid communication.
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=893328&#Post893328

So far it seems that Mac release might be linked to Apple event on 12th and should be the BIG NEWS no one expected, hence the silence on Larian's part.

Look, I ingored this, but you're now starting yet *another* topic.

You're getting a good game. On a Macintosh. Do you know how rare that is? I dare say there are fewer Mac gamers waiting for this than Germans waiting for it to get redubbed. That's becasue everyone remotely serious about playing new games on their home computer does NOT pick a Mac. Just, hang on.

We are used to hanging on, waiting patiently - just give us a realistic date without "maybe on 6th sept" or "sometime soon" or "later this month" — that's what's annoying Mac users

Completely irrelevant.

Larian decided to make a Mac version, and a Mac version is available to buy, but the description on the stores is for the full game not early access, and the communication for people who bought it is woeful.

It didn’t have to be like that. They just needed to be clear about what was happening.

You went thirty years defending not having a second mouse button. You're the people that will camp outside standing in line for six days to get a new phone no one needs.

I know you're patient.

But, let's not forget. You're a *month* behind pc users now. People with hardware actually designed to play games on, have waited for this for twenty three years, and the past two years we too heard nothing but 'someday soon' .

You're not special. You're not treated poorly. You're just annoying with all your duplicate threads.

Cut the platform war bollocks, you child.

This has nothing to do with being special. Mac users can go to the steam store right now and see a description for the full release game, only realising once they’ve paid for it that it’s still in early access for them.

Would you find it acceptable if that was the case for the PC version?

PS Laughable assumption that only current PC users have been waiting for a sequel. Been on the same computer for 23 years, have you?

Wow, you sound like someone who can't afford a Mac/Apple product but having something against those who can.

Do I?

Oh my good God. What is wrong with you?

A great number of things, and I'll likely not live past this year. And you? What's your trouble?

Just trying to show some support for fellow customers who have been let down so far.

Yeah, I get it. Just, keep it to a single thread, will you?

I haven’t started any threads.

Completely irrevelant.
There are TONS of amazing games on mac. One of the best RPGs of the decade, Disco Elysium, works flawlessly. Pathfinder WOTR works perfect. I have Hades, Hollow Knight all the great indie goodies working with no issues. DOS2, PoE, Deadfire are ported. You can make Windows games work fine on macs via Wineskin. Tons of reasons to play on their portable M1/M2 line-up. There are incredibly efficient (superb battery life for great performance, stays cool and the display rocks).
Stop making this into a "your the minority, bite the bullet and be happy its coming.."

Larian decided to port the game, got and EA out and a release date.
No freakin excuses. I couldn't care less on WHAT the game was ported too.

I play BG3 on a desktop PC. But I also want to play BG3 on my portable M1 macbook pro max when I travel.

None of these games you mention take any resources on hardware, though, they'll work on anything, which is why they can be easily modified to work on Mac. BG3, on the other hand, most certainly does take hardware resources. If it needs to look anything like you'd expect, there is a serious issue of making it work on the average Mac. And that's the thing. There's no point in making it available for the million-dollar UltrApple, if it only sells two copies. It needs to work and be reasonably received on the average one. Which is more or less the same price as the average pc, but with half the specs.

It should work on any Mac that meets the requirement specs:

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: macOS 10.15.6
Processor: 2.6GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon460 4GB
Storage: 150 GB available space
Additional Notes: Minimum specs can run the game on low to medium settings. To meet minimum specs, you'll need a MacBook Pro 15 inch from 2016 or newer, with the above mentioned GPU. Or, a MacBook Pro 13 inch from 2018 or newer. M1 Chip requirements: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini with Apple M1 chip and 8GB of RAM. SSD recommended.
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: macOS 10.15.7
Processor: 2.3GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB
Storage: 150 GB available space
Additional Notes: Recommended specs can run the game on high or ultra settings. You'll meet recommended specs if you have a MacBook Pro 15 inch or 16 inch from 2019 and upwith the above mentioned GPU. An iMac from 2017 or newer will also pull it off. M1 Chip requirements: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini with Apple M1 chip and 16GB of RAM.SSD recommended.

Pathfinder wrath of the righteous is definitely not a game that doesn’t “take any resources”, and there are plenty of Mac games that are resource intensive like resident evil village, no man’s sky, and …Baldur’s Gate 3 early access!

But it doesn’t matter at all if you think Mac’s aren’t for higher end games. It only matters that they haven’t communicated regarding something that people have already paid for.

Imagine you bought a blue car, pre-paid in full, the other colored cars arrive to their new owners on time, but you get ignored when you ask where your blue car is. Then people on the internet say “No one drives blue cars, you should just be patient and be glad blue is an option.”

I don't want to be an angry Mac user, I don't care and will wait for the game. And that's that. Does it arrive first before the others? I do not care. Here the matter is a little more complex... Larian, like any other company, has PR and social media managers. Who regularly check the Forum and are responsible for communicating with customers and users... So, since we Mac users are causing a lot of annoyance, to the point that the PS5 launch posts are becoming "where is the Mac version??" so maybe they should get moving and make a clear, quick and precise statement on what they are doing on the missing platforms... And I say this because we Mac users are still in EA right?? so here's how you did it for everyone while you were at EA, involve those who are still at EA to understand the status of the work, right?? Larian take 30 minutes to write something structured to the Mac community and also Xbox about the state of things. Because until proven otherwise you are selling an EA game on Steam that is undeniably presented as finished... and you are wrong about this... it is misleading... so correct this aspect on Steam.

The condescension and gate-keeping is a bit much.

Not a Mac user for games but I have a lot of sympathy here. The lack of transparency and communication regarding the misleading Steam information and continued lack of release is a bad look. Larian didn't have to make a Mac release, but they said they would and they need to live up to their promises.

I have enough sympathy for one thread on the subject, but starting mass numbers of threads is bad form. All it does is harm the experience of the posters here, who have nothing to do with when the game releases on Mac.

If there's one thread, I do hope that Larian sees it and acknowledges your concerns. I feel like they will probably make an announcement about the Mac release soon, although I know how frustrating it can be while waiting.

Anyway, I sincerely wish you the best, but please, let's try to keep it to one thread.

The deplay is acceptable, but the lack of communication is not.

make sense considering they showed the game during previous event.

For Pathfinder WoTr and mid to max settings I get near 60fps, running cool, beautiful 16 inch screen, 4 HOURS playtime on my M1 max Macbookpro (oh and its not even optimized for apple silicon), a nearly 5 year old laptop (10 hours battery for non gaming stuff).

What do you get on your windows laptop I wonder. A bit more FPS but for 90 minutes playtime and burned laps and fans going nuts? And non gaming, what, 2 hours tops? lol

When I'm travelling, Im not bringing my PC desktop and PC notebooks are shit if not plugged in. 120FPS means nothing if you can just play 1 hour with burned laps and palms running ventilators full blast.

Its not iPhone event anymore

[img]https://imgur.com/a/Q8ojOuJ[/img]

Just opinion but i will be not surprised if it's apple fault. I remember when apple dropped support for OpenGL, and arenanet make announcement that macos client support will be dropped because of this. What was funny in this story is, people blamed anet, not apple - which is irrational. Before you blame someone, think twice. Also, releasing software on mac is pain and their requirements are pure joke. Chill.

We don't know full story so i encourage empathy and patience. Some things may be out of their control.

Larian have been selling an early access version of the game to people believing they are buying the full game for over a month.

They still haven’t amended the Steam and GOG store pages to make it clear that the Mac version is not complete.

This is wrong. Trade description laws exist for a reason.

So, for you it's okay to judge stuff you have no insight?
Btw. have you read EULA? speaking of law.

Here’s my “insight”:
I go to the Steam store page, I see that BG3 is available for PC and Mac, I see the Mac system requirements, I see the release data of 3rd August and I see a big green button to fork over cash for a game with no indication that it’s still in Early Access.

How is that acceptable?

I’ve never broken an EULA, what does that have to do with anything?

... and you don't blame steam for not updating information in their own app?

Of course I don’t. It’s the developer/publisher who manages the content on their pages using Steamworks and it’s their responsibility to ensure that it’s accurate.

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted

Valve don’t write the descriptions, upload images and videos, manage DLC etc for every game on the site. There’s over 50000 of them. It just wouldn’t work.

You seem very keen to absolve Larian of all responsibility for this.

Ok, in case of handling content i may be wrong.
On the other hand, i may say the same about you and apple in case of responsibility? Or you just needs to release rage somewhere?
If you read EULA, you will find they CAN DELAY. No matter if you like it or not.

Ok, I just want to say I too was caught unaware I was actually purchasing an EA game because I have a Mac, personally I wouldn't have minded if I was told and would have purchased it anyway, but I do find myself continually searching these forums and hoping for some information, any information with some actual substance over the Mac release.

One thing I will say though is that I'm not mad to be made to wait for what I thought was a full game when I purchased it, but if it is related to the Apple event on 12th, and the Mac release is seemingly delayed for that alone, that would be poor form.

Though I will end this saying I purchased a full Release version of the game for the Mac according to the BG3 steam store page, so there are all those dang pesky expectations Larian should expect me to have.

You mean this (my emphasis for the bold text)?

8. CHANGES TO THE GAME AND SERVICE

You agree that Larian Studios may change, modify, suspend, delay, limit, nerf, discontinue or restrict any aspect of the Game or Service, or your access to the Game or Service, including without limitation, any features or content of the Game or Service, and any hours of availability, content, data, software or equipment needed to access the Game or the Service, at any time. Larian Studios will notify you of such changes to the extent reasonably possible.

I have no more rage than people complaining that the story wasn’t everything they’d hoped it would be or all the other complaints we see round here. But unlike all that, this should be a literal 5 min job to fix. Just get someone with admin rights to log onto the page, and add a sentence or two somewhere prominent to explain that the native Mac version is still in early access. That’s it!

It’s a legitimate grievance with a ridiculously simple solution. It was probably just a simple oversight, but they can and should just fix it, immediately.

Just in case i was misunderstood...
Everything i said about OpenGL and Apple is a fact.
I said we don't know full story, so also the reason why delay happen - that's why i encourage patience and empathy.
Saying that it may be apple fault - it's assumption, i don't say it's a fact.

Maybe i should say sorry to you, because i realized you only cared about that fix in info page? is this correct?

No need to apologize to me, I probably should have been more clear. I have no idea what system architecture nonsense Apple has that could make things harder. But most Mac users don’t seem too bothered by the fact it’s coming a bit later. I see two related issues:

1) Incorrect information at point of purchase causing people to buy a game they thought was finished and only discovering it’s still in early access once they’ve installed it. (An example above).
2) Lack of communication on when it will be fully released. They waited until it actually got to the target date they’d previously given to say it would be later. Not great PR at all. This is even more important given there are people who didn’t even realize they were buying an early access version

It’s the things that do appear to be under Larian’s control that are causing a backlash.

I only hope you don't took my words too personally and i didn't had bad intention. No matter how my day was etc. it's not excuse. I'm sorry.
Have a nice day!

Larian will definitely be looking at this forum. We all know you're working on the Mac version. Take your time. But could you Kindly Put a notice on Steam at least for those who are buying the Mac version thinking it's finished??? Not everyone browses forums and Twitter...c'mon! what a terrible fall in style this lack... Think about it: with all the hype your fantastic game is making, many Mac users are also starting to become curious... if they see it's available they buy it... and then when they find out that isn't finished they come here to complain...up up up

Nah, having blazing rows that probably wouldn’t happen in a real conversation is just the Internet.

I’m just not sure that everyone really gets why Mac users are suddenly kicking up a bit of a fuss.

I have two friends, only uses mac, are now just FUMING right now because they bought the game on GOG due to all the hype and amazing reviews. And discovered its an EA version...
They don't deal with social media much, but knew release was like the PS5 on the 6th.

Thank you.

how many people buy a MAC though?

What I love that Larian did is not delay the PC Launch for other platforms. To many devs will delay a launch to hit all the platforms at once. Larian said screw that an is launching as each become ready. No more waiting because certification for a console hit a small snag.

STRONG CONDEMNATION