PlayStation responds on why it’s bringing LEGO Horizon Adventures to Nintendo Switch but not Xbox
Despite launching on Nintendo Switch, LEGO Horizon Adventures will not be coming to Xbox or PlayStation 4.
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What you need to know
We have some non-answers regarding chosen platforms for one of PlayStation’s upcoming games.
LEGO Horizon Adventures, a LEGO-fied version of PlayStation' Horizon games that’s being co-developed by Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo, is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch, the latter of which is remarkably unusual for non-MLB PlayStation Studios games. Despite being far more multiplatform than normal, the game has not been announced for Xbox consoles.
Speaking with Stephen Totilo for his one-man newsletterGame File(where he also talks about the making of upcoming PlayStation 5 title Astro Bot), Guerrilla Games narrative director James Windeler noted that the game was meant to push PlayStation 5 hardware and “look as amazing as it can possibly be” on the system.
When asked by Totilo about why it was coming to Nintendo Switch, Windeler explained that the decision helped the team to go after a “family-friendly audience and a younger audience” than would otherwise have been possible. Upon being asked about Xbox however, Windeler simply said that “You know, we don’t really have anything to announce about Xbox right now.”
LEGO Horizon Adventures is slated to launch later in 2024
Like other LEGO games, LEGO Horizon Adventures features co-op, with full cross-platform play on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch. Players can collect LEGO versions of characters like Aloy and Varl, taking on machines such as the Thunderjaw.
There’s no release date right now, but when thegame was unveiled earlier in the yearas part ofSummer Game Fest 2024, it was announced to be coming later in the year.
Analysis: Not too surprising, but curious all the same
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While the way the non-answer is given is amusing, it seems perfectly obvious what’s really going on. For PlayStation, this kind of game only really makes sense if it has a wide audience, something that can’t quite be guaranteed from even PlayStation 5 and PC players, but the company also can’t bring it to PlayStation 4 because it needs to push its own newer hardware. As a result, the best option to be found is through also bringing it to Nintendo Switch.
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As for Xbox, while it definitely won’t be included at launch, I don’t think an eventual port is completely impossible. PlayStation does already bring MLB games to Xbox, so porting games like LEGO Horizon Adventures after the initial wave of players have already been garnered elsewhere makes a degree of sense.
No matter what else happens, thelist of PlayStation Studios games on Windows PCis growing faster than ever, and it’s abundantly clear PlayStation (like Xbox) is no longer completely constraining itself to one piece of console hardware.
As an aside, kudos to Totilo for the work he’s putting into Game File. In his most recent newsletter, he also talks with Team Asobi about the upcoming awesome-looking Astro Bot, and I encourage reading it.
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
