Sony executive Jim Ryan says that Horizon Forbidden West is being built from the ground up for the PlayStation 5, even though it was revealed earlier this week that the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel will also be available on the PlayStation 4.
While speaking with the Washington Post, the CEO of Sony’s PlayStation division explained why no one should be disappointed by Horizon Forbidden West coming to the PS4 because the game is “built from the ground up” for the PS5.
“No one should be disappointed [about Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure being on PS4]. The PS5 versions of those games are built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set, and we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 versions for free. It’s about people having choice. I’m really quite pleased about the situation.”
Of course, according to Sony, every game that is coming to their next-gen console is being built from he ground up for the PlayStation 5, even though some of those titles are coming to their current-gen console. In fact, Sony has said that the PS4 will remain important for a few more years, so it remains to be seen what being built from the ground up for the PlayStation 5 really means.
Also, it remains to be seen what the differences are between Horizon Forbidden West’s PS4 and PS5 versions are, and whether or not the next-gen version will be a significant upgrade or a minor visual change.
If you do purchase the PlayStation 4 version of Horizon Forbidden West, you will get a free upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version if you get the upgraded console, as Sony said the following regarding upgrades over on their official blog.
“The PS4 digital versions of launch games include a free upgrade on both PS5 consoles, while the PS4 disc versions of these games include a free upgrade on the PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-Ray disc drive.”
The next installment of Horizon Zero Dawn doesn’t have a release date attached to it, but it is expected to be released sometime next year. Unfortunately, Sony didn’t show anything new from Forbidden West during their recent PlayStation 5 live stream, as they instead focused on launch titles.
It’s probably safe to assume that we’ll see more from Horizon Forbidden West after the PlayStation 5 is released later this year, and hopefully we’ll get a release date announcement before the end of 2020.