LEGO Horizon Adventures Dev Gives Non-Answer For Lack Of Xbox Version

The Switch install base makes it worth it for them financially

I don't see Sony bringing any 1st party IP to Xbox as it's their USP right now and they wont want to lose that

we don't really have anything to announce about Xbox right now

I don't think anyone needs Sherlock's input to solve this particularly cryptic wording....

The Xbox platform has always had a gaping hole in it where family games are concerned. Parents generally buy Nintendo or PlayStation platforms to play games with their kids, although there will be exceptions.

Build it and they will come I suppose but there isn’t really a market there. They’ll sell 10x the copies on Switch they would on Xbox sadly.

Install base is the reason.

PC has the largest. Followed by Switch. Followed by Playstation. Which itself then outsells Xbox roughly 2:1.

And then to deploy on Xbox they have to develop for two SKUs which is more dev time for the smallest install base.

I don't expect any Sony owed IPs like this or Helldivers to ever hit Xbox for that very reason.

And before someone says "But Xbox is putting their stuff on Playstation". Yes, because they need to. Because of the aforementioned install bases.

I know some Switch owners also have a PS4/5 and have played the Horizon games, but I would like to know how many Switch only players are interested in a LEGO game based on a franchise they can't acces to.
Talking mainly about Japan, actually.

It’s a Sony IP and it’s developed by a Sony owned studio so they can do what they want with it without needing to justify those decisions.

Ori games are on Xbox, Switch and PC but I have never once seen a push square article asking why they aren’t on PlayStation.

@WhiteRabbit @GeeEssEff Likely because a lot of PS players also own Switches, so either way they have access.

Before I added in a series X, my gaming combo was PS and Switch. I just got the Switch Ori titles and moved on with my day.

The reason is it's Sony's IP and they don't want it to come to XBox.
Just because XBox is in a position where they have to put their core XBox One/Series exclusives on PlayStation and Nintendo, that doesn't mean Sony or Nintendo should have to do the same.

Remember XBox aren't making Nintendo and PlayStation versions out of the goodness of their hearts, they're doing it because they see the dollar signs and the fact that those audiences are night and day bigger than the core XBox console base.
Microsoft even sees that every Amazon Fire Stick represents a bigger user base than their console audience and they can stream to a rival platform like Geforce.

@GeeEssEff

Ori games are on Xbox, Switch and PC but I have never once seen a push square article asking why they aren’t on PlayStation

Perhaps because PushSquare is/was too busy (a while ago) asking their community about which tent pole Xbox franchises they next want ported to PlayStation 😅. The Ori games are probably seen as small fish by the staff there.
Getting back to your point, I agree, Horizon is Sony owned franchise and they'll probably go bust before porting it or any of their other games to Xbox..

Because Switch aint a rival to PS5, XBOX is. PC is still not counted as being in the same market

It’s obvious it’s a Sony franchise.
Also I’m sure there is some intent if they get young switch owners into Horizon franchise, when they a big persons console they might go PS5 because of the Horizon connection. Because that is where the main Horizon games are.

You sum it up perfectly, @InterceptorAlpha...

You are absolutely right to say you do not need to be Sherlock to work this one out, @Sol4ris. 'Right now' is a placating addition to the sentence. It is the sign of someone being evasive, and not wishing to offend or upset another by stating the truth (with the truth, in this instance, actually being never happening). This sort of phrasing is something that, when I was a Senior Detective training new Detectives, I used to teach them to listen out for when interviewing witnesses and suspects... 😉

You would think that, with Xbox actually giving games to the Playstation community the way they're doing (see the success of Sea of Thieves), Sony would return the favor, at least for some titles, LIKE THIS ONE, which is also planed on another competitor.

I don't call this a fair game, Sony. And I'm saying that as a PS5 owner. Not cool, bro. Not cool.

@Bobobiwan Why would you think that?

At the end of the day Xbox games are only being released on Playstation because of how much it is outsells Xbox. Sony does not have a similar incentive.

If the roles were reversed, you better believe Microsoft wouldn't be putting their games on anything else at all.

@Bobobiwan Why would they? Sony is in a position of strength here, like it or not. MS is obviously setting up for the likely-inevitable-but-not-guaranteed ending of the XBox console lineup next generation and is making sure there’s a demand for their titles.

Sony has no need to reciprocate on the XBox side. PC, sure. But why would they move even a few games outside of The Show (which they were forced to do by the MLB) to XBox when their current strategy is clearly working?

@Bobobiwan sony do have games on Xbox

MLB the show being one. Maybe they would prefer it not to be there. But it is. And stuff like destiny too.

If I were publishing a game, developing it for the Xbox would be my lowest priority. Like, how is this even a question? That's before even considering that it's a Sony product.

Why is it so hard for these developers to be transparent and say it how it is

"It's a Sony decision not to allow a release on Xbox"

@Fiendish-Beaver

I agree. The developer decided to dignify the question with an answer out curtesy 😁. Honestly, I'm genuinely surprised that journalists still pose questions of this nature. This is Sony, with an ip they own with no strings attached, like Destiny or told of the consequences if not playing nice, MLB The Show.

@ImGame69

Probably because they expect the person asking the question to be informed enough to not ask. Especially with a big profile ip, and the respective holder 😉.

@InterceptorAlpha

And before someone says "But Xbox is putting their stuff on Playstation". Yes, because they need to. Because of the aforementioned install bases.

Yep and this why the PlayStation console brand is going to get bigger and bigger overtime and the Xbox console brand smaller.

But the Xbox publisher brand should get bigger over time.

@Bobobiwan

Everyone forgets Sony do not want to share, they want exclusive games so people buy their console which increases sales also of subscriptions, dlc, games and controllers etc.

Microsoft are only sharing as they don’t care about console sales and the way for Microsoft to make money as the Xbox console base is small and it has game pass. Is to sell its games on other platforms.

It’s different companies making money in different ways.

No surprise it’s not coming to Xbox. It will sell better on Switch than Xbox unfortunately. Would have liked to seen it announced for all platforms but it is what it is.

MS didn’t pay for it. The end.

@WhiteRabbit
"Yep, don’t hear any port begging for it either."

This is sarcasm, right?

Anytime there is a "what Xbox games would you like to see ported to Playstation?" type article on PushSquare, Ori will be mentioned in the comments.

@Sol4ris : It's ok to ask, the person interviewed should honestly answer instead of hiding behind the smoke and mirrors.

Honesty from Sony for once it would be so refreshing.

@WhiteRabbit
Uh...proof is there.

While I do get that install base and potential sales is the weakest of the platforms, and I do get that Xbox is the more direct competitor, and I do get that MS is doing it only because the they have to and Sony doesn't.

However, as soon as they revealed this, the whole "Sony releases a major IP game with Lego on every platform except Xbox!" announcement came across as exceptionally petty, and managed to lower my opinion of Sony. It was almost like them directly confirming that they also pay to keep games off one single platform, publicly.

@NEStalgia

It was almost like them directly confirming that they also pay to keep games off one single platform, publicly

In this case who would Sony need to pay for keeping the game off Xbox, themselves? I don't think even Sony can hate Xbox that much 😉.

@Sol4ris LOL, no I didn't mean they were paying for this one, obviously, but after the accusations of such behavior the whole "we're releasing our game on EVERY platform EXCEPT that one" (while that one is putting games on ours), seemed to announce that mentality. The whole thing just came across as exceedingly petty. I get the business case for it, but the optics are not complimentary. If you're going to do the multiplatform thing, do the multiplatform thing, leave the politics out of it.

It also comes across as exceedingly out of touch in that they're putting their money where their ABK lawsuit era mouth was, in that they genuinely don't see Nintendo as a competitor while they do see Xbox as one, which is arguably weird and out of touch, arguably Nintendo is a bigger competitor to Sony's "real console" market, the Asia/international market, and the family market than Xbox ever will be post-360.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner It is because MLB forced Sony to go multiplatform. That is why they did it.

Regarding Lego Horizon, I'm sure Sony would like to have kept it exclusive BUT the reason why it is coming to Switch is most likely because Lego FORCED Sony to put it on Switch because Lego games sell well on Switch which Lego knows hence why the game is coming on Switch.

Weirder was/is not releasing it on PS4 while it's going to have a Switch version.