PlayStation surprised everybody with the announcement of LEGO Horizon Adventures, a new action-adventure title, at Summer Game Fest 2024. The game is co-developed by Guerilla Games, the developer behind the Horizon and Killzone franchises, and the AAA support studio, Studio Gobo.
The game is set to launch during the 2024 holiday season on PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. While fans are excited to see the popular hunter Aloy in a LEGO version, the game has also broken a 26-year-long streak maintained by PlayStation and Sony.
Lego Horizon Adventures Marks an Important Change in PlayStation History
Sony takes exclusivity quite seriously, as the company only brings its first-party games to its flagship console and keeps them exclusive for at least one or two years before porting them to PC. However, this is changing with Lego Horizon Adventures, as the game is all set to launch on day one on Nintendo.
The game is the first PlayStation-owned IP that will be released on a rival platform after 26 years. The last game that was released on a competitor platform was Wipeout 64, back in 1998. Wipeout 64 is the only game in the franchise that was published for Nintendo, and now this title joins that list.
And it won't be the last, give it a few years, everyone will be most multiplatform
— Chad Woods (@FrZtB1te) June 12, 2024
The game was developed by Psygnosis and published by Midway for the Nintendo 64, and the developer was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in 1999, making Wipeout a PS IP. Sony published MLB The Show, which is available on both Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but these are not owned by PS and are licensed titles as part of MLB Advanced Media.
Is The Game Launching on Nintendo a Sign of PlayStation Going Multi-Platform?
After Xbox released its four first-party titles on other consoles, there were speculations that Sony could follow suit by bringing some of its titles to rival platforms. This grew stronger when PlayStation president and COO Hiroki Totoki said that the company may consider it with more PC releases.
This is to increase revenue and grow the audience for its games. It can be said that with the release of Lego Horizon Adventures on Nintendo, the strategy may be in place, but it seems unlikely. Firstly, Horizon is a PlayStation IP, but the game is a collaboration with LEGO.
Nintendo is not a rival console. They have their own market.
— Plugify (@PlugifyGames) June 12, 2024
Sony could be launching it on Nintendo only for sales reasons, as such games sell more on the platform. However, some fans think that this is only the start, and after a few years, more games will be going multi-platform.
While many have said that Nintendo is not a rival and has its own market, a lot of fans still believe this is just a crack in the games going to other platforms. Despite what it may mean, Nintendo fans would be happy to get a Horizon game, even if it’s LEGO.
What are your thoughts on the game releasing for Nintendo? Let us know in the comments.
