Baldur's Gate 3 is within touching distance of snatching a Steam record from Hogwarts Legacy

Baldur's Gate 3 has proved massively popular since it arrived on PC earlier this month, so popular in fact that it's extremely close to snatching the Steam concurrent player record held by Hogwarts Legacy.

The action-RPG set in the Harry Potter universe is Steam's biggest launch of 2023, having achieved an all-time player peak of 879,308 when it arrived back in February. Now, it's got some stiff competition on its hands as, according to Steam DB, Baldur's Gate 3's concurrent player count is just a few thousand below that at 875,343, which it reached yesterday, August 13.

It remains to be seen whether Larian Studio's new RPG will be able to beat Hogwarts Legacy's record, but it's certainly looking feasible. Player numbers are generally at their highest just after launch, but given how expansive Baldur's Gate 3 is, it's entirely possible that huge numbers of fans will be playing for some time to come while, at the same time, many new players dive in to see what all the fuss is about.

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It's worth noting that this isn't an entirely accurate comparison of both games' overall popularity, as Baldur's Gate 3 is a PC exclusive until its release on PS5 next month, whereas Hogwarts Legacy's player base was spread across multiple platforms from day one. Still, it's an incredible achievement for Larian, especially considering CRPGs and turn-based games don't tend to attract as big an audience as other genres. The developer's previous offering, Divinity Original Sin 2, peaked at 93,701 on Steam, which, while a decent figure, is tiny compared to what Baldur's Gate 3 has achieved.

The success of Larian's latest is certainly well deserved. In our Baldur's Gate 3 review in progress, we said: "Suffice to say that Baldur's Gate 3 feels a little bit like Larian has accomplished the impossible. This is an entire, years-long pen-and-paper roleplaying campaign realized in beautiful fidelity, in a way that brings every tiny detail of your mind's eye to life. It's a Witcher-style elevation of its source material, a game that lives and breathes its tabletop origins so deeply that to see it transfer them so completely from the page to the screen almost feels wrong."

Can you run Baldur's Gate 3? Find out with our minimum specs guide.

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.