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Almost 10,000 people have played Baldur’s Gate 3 in a portrait aspect ratio, so join me in figuring out why they’d commit such sacrilege
Larian Studios has published fresh player-behaviour statistics for Baldur's Gate 3, highlighting that 9,008 people have played the game in a portrait (9:16) aspect ratio, while 114 have opted for a square (1:1) view. Rock Paper Shotgun's writer finds this baffling given the game's isometric design, and speculates on possible explanations, from phone habits to sideways secondary monitors, while inviting affected players to explain themselves.
The data dump also revealed several other notable figures: over 500 million mods have been downloaded, the NPC Zevlor has died 12.31 million times across all playthroughs, and fewer than 1% of players have collected the full 180,000 gold available in a single run. Larian shared the statistics via social media, adding a wry "You doing okay there?" in response to some of the more extreme figures, such as players who made over 1,400 quicksaves in one playthrough.
In short
- 9,008 players used portrait mode for Baldur's Gate 3
- 500 million mods downloaded; NPC Zevlor died 12.31 million times
- Under 1% of players collected all 180,000 available gold
Explained simply
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game from Belgian studio Larian, set in the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. Players guide a group of characters through a story, exploring locations and making choices that can change what happens; the game is usually shown from an angled, isometric view.
Larian’s player statistics offer a glimpse of how people play, from downloading modifications to repeatedly saving their progress. The portrait and square figures count players who used those screen shapes, though the numbers alone do not explain why. The data also reflects the scale of a game with many possible choices and play styles.