Today, PlayStation Studios head honcho Hermen Hulst announced two of the biggest upcoming PlayStation titles that were originally confirmed as PlayStation 5 games are coming to the PS4. That’s right, both Gran Turismo 7 and the next God of War game (which is also delayed until 2022) will be playable on PlayStation’s current generation console (PS4).
I’m sure the news comes as a shock, especially since PlayStation was keen to point out that they believe in “generations.” Meaning, they would release new games on the new console once released. And while they have been doing so with Demon’s Souls and the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. These two games have the potential of selling PS5’s – that is, if the console wasn’t already flying off the shelves and likely had a part in this decision.
When asked about this sudden change, Herman quickly pointed out that the PlayStation 4’s ownership had a lot to do with it.
“You can’t build a community of over 110 million PS4 owners and then just walk away from it, right? I think that’d be bad news for fans of PS4, and frankly not very good business, stated Herman Hulst.”
“Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 — for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7 — we’ll continue looking at that. And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.”
“That being said, it’s also very important to have showpieces for PS5, hence the development of Returnal and Ratchet that are exclusive to PS5.”
Which makes complete business sense, but at the same time, it tells the story of PlayStation refusing to push forward. Many people purchased the PlayStation 5 was to take advantage of the new hardware and looked forward to new experiences. Both Gran Turismo 7 and God War Ragnarok were going to be part of those PS5 experiences, and now they aren’t going to be. It just feels like PlayStation isn’t ready to rip off the bandage and whether that’s a good decision or not isn’t up to me to say.
For PlayStation 4 owners, this is great news as they don’t need to upgrade to play both of these games. Which has been compounded as many can’t find them, or they’re still too expensive to justify. Yet, this can also pose a problem. If these two games can come to the PS4, why not Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart? Why not Demon’s Souls? For that matter, why isn’t every game in development for the PS5 coming to the PS4? Then you start to see people questioning why they are being asked to upgrade at all.
I think this is an odd move on PlayStation’s part, yet also a smart one. How this pays off, in the end, will be determined when the games are released and maybe not even then. Because we all know these games will sell like hotcakes, no matter the platform.
