What you need to know
- LEGO Horizon Adventures is an upcoming LEGO version of PlayStation and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon franchise.
- Co-developed by Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo, LEGO Horizon Adventures features classic LEGO humor and jokes, with brick-based recreations of machines like Tallneck and Thunderjaw.
- LEGO Horizon Adventures will launch later in 2024 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch, but not on Xbox or PlayStation consoles.
- Speaking to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, the developers stated that they “have nothing to announce about Xbox right now.”
We have some unanswered questions about the platforms chosen for one of the upcoming PlayStation games.
LEGO Horizon Adventures, a LEGO version of the PlayStation Horizon games being co-developed by Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo, is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch, the latter being extremely unusual for no. -PlayStation Studios MLB Games. Despite being much more multiplatform than normal, the game has not been announced for Xbox consoles.
Speaking to Stephen Totilo for his one-man newsletter Game File (where he also talks about the creation of the upcoming PlayStation 5 title Astro Bot), Guerrilla Games’ narrative director James Windeler noted that the game was meant to push PlayStation 5 hardware and “looked as amazing as can be” on the system.
When asked by Totilo why it was coming to the Nintendo Switch, Windeler explained that the decision helped the team go after a “family-friendly audience and a younger audience” than would otherwise have been possible. However, when asked about Xbox, Windeler simply said that “You know, we don’t have anything to announce about Xbox right now.”
LEGO Horizon Adventures is scheduled 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 such as Aloy and Varl, facing off against machines such as Thunderjaw.
There is no release date at the moment, but when the game was revealed earlier this year as part of Summer Game Fest 2024, it was announced that it would be coming later in the year.
Analysis: Not too surprising, but curious all the same
While the way the non-answer is given is amusing, it seems perfectly clear what is really going on. For PlayStation, this kind of game only makes sense if it has a wide audience, something that can’t be guaranteed at all even by PlayStation 5 and PC gamers, but the company also can’t bring it to PlayStation 4 because it has to push its own hardware younger. As a result, the best option to find is through bringing it to Nintendo Switch.
As for the Xbox, while it definitely won’t be included at launch, I don’t think an eventual port is entirely out of the question. PlayStation already brings MLB games to Xbox, so porting games like LEGO Horizon Adventures after the initial wave of players has already gathered elsewhere makes some sense.
Regardless of what else happens, the list of PlayStation Studios games on Windows PC is growing faster than ever, and it’s very clear that PlayStation (like Xbox) is no longer completely limiting itself to one piece of console hardware.
As an aside, kudos to Totilo for the work he’s doing on Game File. In his latest newsletter, he also talks to Team Asobi about the upcoming awesome looking Astro Bot and I encourage you to read it.