PlayStation hit ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ announced for PC as ecosystem broadens

Robot dinosaurs roam the land in “Horizon Zero Dawn”. Image: Courtesy of Guerilla Games / Sony PlayStation via AFP Relaxnews

Debuting in 2017 to rave reviews as one of the PlayStation 4’s essential titles, the post-apocalyptic game “Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition” will be released on PC in mid-2020.

Herman Hulst, former head of Dutch developer Guerrilla Games, which developed “Horizon Zero Dawn”, turned rumor into confirmed fact in an interview with the official PlayStation Blog.

“Yes, I can confirm that Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC this [northern] summer,” he said as the new head of worldwide studios for PlayStation company Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“It’s important that we stay open to new ideas of how to introduce more people to PlayStation, and show people maybe what they’ve been missing out on.”

Worded in this manner, it would appear that Hulst’s division is adopting a similar strategy to Nintendo.

Nintendo has been publishing mobile titles based on its library of existing characters and franchises since 2016’s experimental social network “Miitomo”.

It was able to anticipate and increase interest in “Super Mario Odyssey”, “Super Mario Maker 2” and “New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe” on the Nintendo Switch through “Super Mario Run” for Android and iOS; “Fire Emblem Awakening” on the same console through “Fire Emblem Heroes”; March 20th’s upcoming “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” through “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp”.

Similarly, The Pokémon Company — part-owned by Nintendo — partnered with another developer for mobile sensation “Pokémon Go”, following it up with “Pokémon: Let’s Go” and then “Pokémon Sword & Shield” on the Switch.

“Releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC,” Hulst continued.

“‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ was just a great fit in this particular instance. We don’t have plans for [simultaneous PC and console releases], and we remain 100% committed to dedicated hardware.”

Talk of “Horizon Zero Dawn” as a PC release had been preceded by mention of several console exclusives: the recently released content creation suite “Dreams”, March baseball sim “MLB The Show”, May’s “The Last of Us Part II” and June’s “Ghost of Tsushima”.

In this way, SIE intends to expand the PlayStation ecosystem through careful selection of former console exclusives for distribution elsewhere, while encouraging game fans towards its own console platform.

Holiday 2020 sees the release of both a PlayStation 5 and an Xbox Series X console. RGA

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