Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 livestream shut down for being too sexy
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A Baldur's Gate 3 livestream hosted by developer Larian Studios was pulled from YouTube and TikTok after an explicit in-game scene proved too much for the platforms' content rules. Senior communications developer Aoife Wilson was streaming a heavily modded Dark Urge playthrough when her character had a sexual encounter with the incubus Harleep in the House of Hope, triggering bans from both services shortly afterwards. The incident highlights the tension between Baldur's Gate 3's famously explicit content and the moderation policies of mainstream streaming platforms.
Wilson streams her Durge run weekly, and after being banned she noted the irony given YouTube's own history of running sexualised adverts, joking that being "too hot for TikTok and YouTube" was "a badge of honor". The stream continued on X, and Wilson said Twitch remained her hope for future broadcasts. This follows a similar episode last month in which a player lost an Honour Mode run after pursuing the same character too far, underscoring how the game's wide-ranging romantic and sexual content continues to catch developers and players out on mainstream platforms.
- Larian's BG3 livestream banned from YouTube and TikTok over explicit scene
- Developer Aoife Wilson's character had sex with an incubus, Harleep
- Stream continued on X; Wilson hopes Twitch remains available
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Larian Studios is the Belgian developer behind Baldur's Gate 3, a role-playing video game known for its unusually detailed and explicit romance and sex scenes, which players can access through their characters' choices in the story. The game also has a large modding community, meaning players can add unofficial extra content, and it has an "Honour Mode" for players who want a tougher, permadeath style of play. Livestreaming, where developers or players broadcast themselves playing a game live on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and X, has become a common way for studios to promote games and connect with fans.
Mainstream platforms like YouTube and TikTok have strict rules against sexual content, and can suspend or remove streams that break them, even when the content comes from within a licensed video game rather than the streamer themselves. This creates a recurring problem for a game like Baldur's Gate 3, whose adult content is a well-known part of its appeal but sits uneasily with the moderation standards of the platforms used to showcase it.
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