Baldur's Gate 3's launch may have broken Steam – players report downloads ranging from 6 hours to 6 months

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

If your Baldur's Gate 3 download is moving like a hungover glacier, you're in good company. The long-awaited full release of the mammoth RPG has seemingly done a number on Steam's servers, and eager fans are reporting download times ranging from six hours to six months.

Developer Larian Studios has even chimed in. At 11:29 am ET, the studio's director of publishing shared a screenshot of the Steam results on the tried-and-true Downdetector, with user reports indicating possible problems at Steam. As of 12:17 ET, the results are the same, and there's a monumental spike in reported issues starting at Baldur's Gate 3's exact launch time.

On Twitter and Reddit, Baldur's Gate 3 fans are reporting slow download speeds as well as Steam download errors including "no internet connection" and "content servers unreachable." Some players say their downloads improved after restarting Steam or moving from Wi-Fi to a wired connection where possible, but your mileage may vary until the launch rush calms down.

This might earn me a thrashing, but I, a US East-coaster, was able to download the live build at normal speed pretty quickly, and I don't have unusually amazing internet or anything. My UK coworkers have been less fortunate. One struggled to get the download to even start, and another encountered download estimates reaching upwards of six months, even hitting the one-year mark for a brief and terrifying moment.

Baldur's Gate 3 download time — (Image credit: Valve / Larian Studios)

That's got to be the work of Mind Flayers. I'm just saying.

But hey, look on the bright side. Now you've got plenty of time to read our Baldur's Gate 3 review in progress, which hails Larian's latest epic as an RPG "primed to be held up with the best of the best."

You can also stay up to date on the biggest moments from the Baldur's Gate 3 launch with our handy live blog.

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.