Photo: Sony
Sony has finally decided to set things straight in one of the most controversial tidbits about the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 7.
The game won’t launch as a PlayStation 5-exclusive, as the company wants to also bring it to PlayStation 4 when it becomes available next year.
To be honest, this isn’t necessarily a surprise. Sony wants Gran Turismo 7 to be a major hit, especially given the high expectations for the game, and since its launch has already been pushed back from 2021 to 2022 and the shortage of PlayStation 5 consoles is unlikely to come to an end too soon, bringing it to PS4 is pretty much the only option.
By launching the game on PS5 exclusively, Sony would make Gran Turismo 7 a game with a very limited player base, and given it’s such a popular title, such an approach could significantly impact its adoption in the long term.
Of course, Sony knows this very well, and Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, explained in June this year that leaving behind the PS4 community isn’t something the company is willing to do.
“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. 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,” Hulst said.
And in a post a few days ago, Jim Ryan, President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment, confirmed Gran Turismo 7 would come to both current and new-gen PlayStation consoles.
“I also want to confirm today that moving forward, PlayStation first-party exclusive cross-gen titles (newly releasing on PS4 & PS5)–both digital and physical–will offer a $10 USD digital upgrade option from PS4 to PS5. This will apply to the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7, and any other exclusive cross-gen PS4 & PS5 title published by Sony Interactive Entertainment,” he said.
No further specifics have been provided as to when Gran Turismo 7 is supposed to launch, but the ETA continues to be 2022. Horizon Forbidden West is set to launch on both PS4 and PS5 in February next year, so hopefully, the release of GT7 would take place in the first half of 2022 as well.
To be honest, this isn’t necessarily a surprise. Sony wants Gran Turismo 7 to be a major hit, especially given the high expectations for the game, and since its launch has already been pushed back from 2021 to 2022 and the shortage of PlayStation 5 consoles is unlikely to come to an end too soon, bringing it to PS4 is pretty much the only option.
By launching the game on PS5 exclusively, Sony would make Gran Turismo 7 a game with a very limited player base, and given it’s such a popular title, such an approach could significantly impact its adoption in the long term.
Of course, Sony knows this very well, and Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, explained in June this year that leaving behind the PS4 community isn’t something the company is willing to do.
“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. 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,” Hulst said.
And in a post a few days ago, Jim Ryan, President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment, confirmed Gran Turismo 7 would come to both current and new-gen PlayStation consoles.
“I also want to confirm today that moving forward, PlayStation first-party exclusive cross-gen titles (newly releasing on PS4 & PS5)–both digital and physical–will offer a $10 USD digital upgrade option from PS4 to PS5. This will apply to the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7, and any other exclusive cross-gen PS4 & PS5 title published by Sony Interactive Entertainment,” he said.
No further specifics have been provided as to when Gran Turismo 7 is supposed to launch, but the ETA continues to be 2022. Horizon Forbidden West is set to launch on both PS4 and PS5 in February next year, so hopefully, the release of GT7 would take place in the first half of 2022 as well.
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