Baldur’s Gate 3 launched with lots of fanfare and praises heaped on Larian Studios for the spectacular delivery. However, as the weeks rolled by, several average critic ratings have seen the game lose points and eventually crash out of the top 10 highest-rated games of all time.
For several weeks after the game’s launch, it maintained a Metacritic score above 97. However, as more critics continued to score the game, it has now dropped a point and settled on 96 which also saw it drop to number 43 on the list of all-time highest-rated games—as at the time of writing this post.
Notwithstanding the drop, Larian can beat their chest knowing that they have accomplished something memorable. Baldur’s Gate 3 is already considered one of the best games of 2023. Although they share the same point, Baldur’s Gate 3 continues to outrank The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The all-time highest-ranked game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game scooped 99 points to remain the leader of the pack. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) complete the top 3 with 98 points each.
Technically, Baldur’s Gate 3 would be in the 30-something position if the repeated titles were weeded out. Since the ranking was done based on the gaming platform, some games were repeated several times on the list. Baldur’s Gate 3 debuted on the chart at number 9 before jumping two places ahead of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 to hit number 7—the best position it held before crashing down to 43.
Will Baldur’s Gate 3 regain the top 10 position?
Since Metacritic ranks gaming platforms differently, Baldur’s Gate 3 still has a chance of hitting the top 10 again through the PS5 version of the game which will launch on September 6. We reported early this month that Baldur’s Gate 3 had jumped to become the most pre-ordered game on the PlayStation Store.
Many linked the pre-order rush to the hype the game has gotten on PC. If Larian is able to deliver the game to run smoothly on PS5 and eliminate some of the bugs they encountered with the PC version of the game, there is a huge chance that the PS5 version of the game will break into the top 10 spot.
If that fails, Larian will still get another shot at the top 10 spot with the Xbox version of the game. Larian has given itself an edge over other studios through tiered releases on different platforms. This strategy will allow the studio to learn from one release and implement the lessons in the next.
Hopefully, this will help the studio to get back on the coveted top 10 spot. The date for the Xbox release is still unannounced.
Baldur’s Gate 3 hits new concurrent player count
A few days after release, Baldur’s Gate 3 hit 814,666 concurrent players as recorded on SteamDB. The game hit a new concurrent player count of 875,343 on Thursday 3 August 2023. Not minding the new jump in the number of concurrent players, Baldur’s Gate 3 was still unable to topple Hogwarts Legacy’s 879,308 concurrent players.
At the time of writing this post, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been toppled from the most pre-ordered game on the PlayStation Store by Destiny 2: The Final Shape. As September 6 draws nearer, we will keep our eyes peeled to see how the game performs on PS5—and what the ratings would be.
Did you pre-order Baldur’s Gate 3 on the PlayStation Store? Considering the performance issues that PS5 games have been having, do you think Larian will crack the nut to deliver a better performance? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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