Baldur's Gate 3 Player Numbers Are Up Compared to Last Year, Seemingly Due to Mods

ign.com:

Baldur's Gate 3's players numbers are up compared to this time last year, seemingly due to official mod support from developer Larian Studios.

Larian director of publishing Michael Douse shared the improvement on X/Twitter, revealing the average daily active users is up 20% over 2023. "Mods are very good," Douse said of the improvement, referencing the release of official mod support as part of Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 7.

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which released in August 2023, is also enjoying an increase of 3% in average daily peak concurrents and a 61% boost in Steam Deck users compared to last year.

This increase is impressive for a largely single-player game. Baldur's Gate 3 does have cooperative multiplayer but is not a live service that may be expected to enjoy a boost in player numbers year-on-year. And while Larian has continued to update Baldur's Gate 3 with new features and improvements, it has not released DLC for it.

Mods, which are even available on console and not just PC as standard, are proving incredibly popular among Baldur's Gate 3 players. Players downloaded more than 50 million mods via the official mod support tool in less than two months, and this number doesn't include the thousands made unofficially.

Mods released so far include one that adds real-time combat to the otherwise turn-based RPG and another that brought entire new maps to Faerûn, including the highly requested Avernus.

Patch 7 otherwise added official content including an "absolutely metal" ending for Karlach and a hidden evil ending. Players will also be relieved to hear that it's not the final major Baldur's Gate 3 patch after all.

In our 10/10 review of Baldur's Gate 3, IGN said: "With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about