Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best RPGs ever made. While the extremely heavy turn-based role-playing game wasn’t designed for handheld devices, it manages to have a pick-up-and-play feel like no other game in the genre.
According to prominent and reliable leaker NatetheHate, handheld gamers on Nintendo Switch 2 will one day be able to experience the game on the go. While no release date was shared, the leaker teased that a full port of the game is in the works for Nintendo’s latest handheld.
In response to a fan on Twitter who asked about the possibility of BG3 coming to Nintendo’s latest console, the leaker responded: “Will have an update on that soon.” While not entirely conclusive, the leaker typically straight-up denounces speculation on ports they haven’t heard about.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the leaker does have a very solid track record when it comes to their reports. In the past, the leaker famously revealed the existence of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and the upcoming Fallout 3 Remastered prior to the leaked Xbox FTC documents making their way online.
As for Baldur’s Gate 3 on Nintendo Switch 2, it does seem that the game should fit nicely onto the machine, especially following recent optimisations made by Larian Studios. Just recently, Larian released a new Native Steam Deck port for the game that also came with huge performance gains across the board.
While the Nintendo Switch 2 does have a slower CPU than that of the Steam Deck, and BG3 is very CPU-heavy, the two machines are similar in spec, albeit the Switch 2 massively outperforms Valve’s device in terms of ray-tracing rendering.
Larian Studios also has a pretty good history of supporting Nintendo’s prior consoles. While bringing BG3 to the original Nintendo Switch is likely impossible, the studio did support the original handheld with a very impressive port of Divinity: Original Sin 2.
With the Mouse Controls of the Nintendo Switch 2 joy-con, Baldur’s Gate 3 on the system could also offer a unique control scheme that allows players to use the freedom of the game’s PC controls combined with the comfortability of a controller.
Additionally, we would expect a heavy cut to Baldur’s Gate 3 on the handheld in terms of split-screen multiplayer. While the feature did eventually come to Xbox Series S months after release, the intensive co-op option did prove difficult for the home console, and we would expect this feature to not make the cut for Nintendo’s handheld. However, considering Larian’s engineers keep making major performance improvements to the game… never say never.
Nevertheless, as with any leak, it is worth taking this report with a grain of salt until Larian officially announces a port of the game. Larian’s OG Switch port of Divinity: Original Sin 2 was officially confirmed during the September 2019 Nintendo Direct, so it would make sense to see BG3 appear during a future showcase.
