The future arrival of the expansion Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores for PlayStation 5 was one of the most notable announcements of The Game Awards 2022, an event for which we also told you about its nominees and winners, as well as the main adaptations of the game. leading event titles. Over the years, this awards ceremony has managed to become a benchmark event in the industry, with a scale that grows year on year. And we are talking about quite young awards, since they began to be awarded only eight years ago, in 2014 (although it is true that they took over the baton from Spike VGA/VGX).

Launched on February 18, 2022 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Horizon Forbidden West takes the world created for Horizon Zero Dawn and puts us back in control of Elay, a young warrior and hunter from the Nora tribe who, as stated. title, this time heading to the lands of the West, in a new visual spectacle in which once urban centers have succumbed to the forces of nature in a post-apocalyptic world.

The first trailer for Burning Shores takes us (or makes us take Elay to be more precise) to the ruins of Los Angeles, now turned into a volcanic archipelago that still retains some iconic elements, such as the Hollywood sign located on Mount Lee, which we can seen in this trailer. But that’s not the only thing that the trailer reveals to us. If we see it all the way to the end, next to the release date, April 19, 2023, we’ll see the PlayStation 5 logo appear. PlayStation 5 logo only.

While it can’t be ruled out, it doesn’t seem likely that this is an accidental omission, no, it’s actually a confirmation of something expected and feared, and that this expansion will only come to PlayStation 5, leaving behind its predecessor, still very up-to-date PlayStation 4. Something that obviously wasn’t fun for Sony console users, especially those who bought and played Forbidden West and who now see that they won’t be able to enjoy this update on their console.

And the anger is understandable, because we are talking about a game that is especially valued by its users and that has received very, very positive reviews, and an expansion that promises to be big and therefore provide many more hours of gameplay. . And it’s also a hard decision to explain since the base game is available for PS4. Why does the base game but not the expansion? Obviously, it would be very different if Horizon Forbidden Wes only came out for PlayStation 5 and left the previous generation behind.

However, and this is something we’ve discussed here many times before, maintaining compatibility with previous generations is unfortunately a drag on taking advantage of all that the latest generation has to offer. We saw a great example of this at the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, but there are more cases that, although not as prominent, show that maintaining compatibility with PS4 (or with Xbox One, it’s similar on all platforms) means a penalty. for those who have made the necessary investment to acquire a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X | WITH.

It shouldn’t be an easy decision for developers to abandon the previous generation console. Just because of the loss of potential sales that this entails, it is certainly the opposite of what shareholders want or even demand. However, the gaming industry is, and we have said this on more than one occasion, the party responsible for the technical development of the platforms that support them.

The fact that Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is only coming to PlayStation 5 is bad news for PlayStation 4 users who have been waiting for this update, and I honestly feel really sorry for them. However, I understand that the studio decided to raise the technical level of the game to make the game experience even better, and I’m sure that PlayStation 5 users will really appreciate it. What do you think?