Over a year after its release, Baldur’s Gate 3 is reaching new heights of active daily players – and publishing director Michael “Cromwelp” Douse thinks he might know why.

Speaking in a recent thread online, Douse jokes that Larian Studios’ sales chart “looks like the heartbeat of a happy little guy” and shares “some fun data facts I have dug up just now” on Baldur’s Gate 3. “Our average daily peak concurrents are up 3% this year over last year,” he writes, adding that “mods are good.” He then cites another impressive stat: “Our average daily active ‘users’ are up 20% over last year.”

Douse reiterates again, that “mods are very good.” Even platforms that are harder to mod on, like the Steam Deck, are seeing strong activity, however – as the publishing lead points out, “Average daily Steam Deck users are up 61% over last year” as well. This could have to do with the game’s recent Patch 7 and its introduction of native mod support, though, making modding on devices like the Deck easier.

The 61% lines up nicely with numbers previously shared by Douse, too, highlighting that the RPG has been played for 17 million hours on the Steam Deck alone – nearly 2,000 years on the handheld console from Valve. Things are certainly continuing to look up for Larian’s 2023 banger, and its continuous rise in activity isn’t the only cause for celebration either. As Douse reveals, the game also seems to be taking off in the Vatican.

Yes, that Vatican – “I am also happy to announce we have achieved 1 (one) more sale in The Holy See, the Vatican itself,” says Douse. “Thank you Mr Pope and enjoy the game.” That marks three copies sold within the ecclesiastical state now, and one wishlisted. It’s safe to say the whole world loves Baldur’s Gate 3, with even the Roman Catholic Church joining the good fight against the Dead Three – or perhaps playing as the Dark Urge?

Baldur’s Gate 3 devs celebrate 50 million mod downloads since Patch 7, including 10,000 renaming Withers to Bone Daddy: “Uh, glad we could facilitate that”