Over a year since Baldur's Gate 3 first launched in August 2023, the game continues to perform remarkably well, with an additional copy sold to an intriguing customer who might be connected to Pope Francis. Larian's publishing director, Michael Douse, recently shared fresh Baldur's Gate 3 statistics on social media, starting with a 3% increase in the game's average daily peak concurrent players this year compared to last. Douse attributed this growth to the introduction of mods earlier this year, which have been downloaded over 50 million times by players.

Daily active users have also surged by more than 20% compared to last year, while the average number of daily Steam Deck users has jumped 61% year-over-year. It remains unclear whether these figures exclusively reflect Steam data or also include metrics from the Xbox and PlayStation versions. These impressive numbers underscore the enduring and expanding popularity of one of 2023's top games. However, the most notable statistic is the sale of exactly one more copy in The Holy See, specifically within the Vatican itself. Douse humorously thanked 'Mr. Pope' and wished him enjoyment with the game.

In November, Douse had disclosed that Larian sold two copies of Baldur's Gate 3 in The Vatican, with one additional person having the game on their wishlist. It's possible that this individual has now decided to purchase the game. Given that Vatican City had an estimated population of about 1,000 people in 2022, it's most likely that a regular citizen bought the game, not the Pope himself. But the thought of Pope Francis playing is certainly intriguing.

Pope Francis has previously met with popular YouTubers and received a copy of the indie RPG Undertale. This isn't the first time a world leader has been gifted a video game; in 2011, Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, gave then-U.S. president Barack Obama a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

Despite the tremendous success of Baldur's Gate 3, Larian is not immediately working on Baldur's Gate 4. Instead, the studio is exploring other projects. Larian boss Swen Vincke revealed in May that they are in the process of determining their next move, with numerous ideas and fragments in development. Vincke also has grand ambitions for a future 'very big RPG' that would surpass any of Larian's previous releases, though he remains tight-lipped about the specifics.

While Larian won't be developing Baldur's Gate 4, Hasbro has expressed interest in expanding the Baldur's Gate series with other teams, emphasizing the importance of finding the right partner and approach for future projects.

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