Game will not launch (Mac)

OSX scans new app files before startup the first time they are run; since the game is fairly large this can take a while and clicking on the game icon on the hotbar actually slows down this process. A couple of people have reported Steam's verification taking more than an hour to complete.

If you open Terminal in the install folder and run the command: sudo xattr -cr , it should disable the malware checks for the game and get it to start immediately

To execute a sudo command in Terminal you must be logged in with an administrator account that has a password. If required, one can be added in Users & Groups preferences.

In the Steam library, right click on the game and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Browse...' button. From Finder, you can then drag and drop the location into an open Terminal window, rather than use the cd command and type the path to get to the install folder. Alternatively, you could try the command below, after replacing the user name as appropriate, and adjusting the path, if required:

sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Users/UserName/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Baldurs\ Gate\ 3/Baldur\'s\ Gate\ 3.app

If that doesn't help, try starting the game from the app container in Finder, after exiting out of Steam.

Try using the Disk utility to check your drive(s).

Check that you have enough drive space for the download and install. It should be twice the install size, plus enough for the installation process. Also check how much room Time Machine backups are taking up, if applicable. One report stated not being able to install D:OS 2 as an example, since there were 30GB of backups actually included in the reported free drive space, so there was less than the required space actually available, rather than more.

Try doing a clean boot and then see if that will get Steam to finish verifying. Start/restart your Mac and hold the Shift key down as soon as the progress bar comes up in the startup window, releasing it after the desktop appears. Alternatively, from the login window, hold the Shift key when you click the Log In button, and release it when you see the Dock. Generally, though, it should eventually start if you just wait.

Start the game, possibly from the app container, start the Activity Monitor, select all processes and check the disk activity; there should be system daemons accessing the disk, indicating that the system is still checking the game.