The co-director of the upcoming and anticipated Dark Souls II , Yui Tanimura of From Software, has expressed that he is currently undecided about releasing the game on the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4, as he believes there is still potential to be utilize with seventh-generation consoles–the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
In an interview with Edge , Tanimura talked about what’s currently happening with the development of Dark Souls II , covering management decisions, gameplay changes and the feedback the studio had received regarding the PC port of Dark Souls II’s predecessor Dark Souls , the successor to the critically acclaimed Demon’s Souls .
As part of the interview, Tanimura was asked questions relating to what platforms Dark Souls II will be released on. Edge asked why the decision was made for Dark Souls II to be developed for the 360 and PS3 when it could sell well on the One or the PS4, going by the game’s improved visuals, physics and animations. Tanimura responded that there was still potential within Dark Souls , and that From Software’s intention is to take advantage of the the total potential of the 360 and PS3 so it can utilise the untapped potential that remained within Dark Souls , so it can better improve from what it has learned for Dark Souls II .
“At the start of development, we felt that there was still a lot of potential that remained unused in Dark Souls . I hope this can be seen with the demos and footage that we have released. Our intention was to capitalise on the total potential of [seventh-generation] consoles and deliver the game to fans as soon as possible.”
While it appears that a console port to the One and the PS4 doesn’t appear to be a likely outcome, a PC port to the One or the PS4 doesn’t seem likely either, at least for the time being. To seal the argument further, when Tanimura was asked directly about what it’d take to bring the PC version of Dark Souls II the One of the PS4, he simply answered, “We have not put any thought into this yet, so I unfortunately can’t answer at this point.”
So, while there aren’t any current plans to bring Dark Souls II to the One or the PS4, it’s still a possibility that a port to the next-gen consoles may come around in the future, even if it may be the far future.
You can read the full interview with Yui Tanimura over on Edge here . Dark Souls II is slated to release in March this year, first in the US, then Japan, then the EU. I’ve yet to dabble into any of the Souls games, be it Demon’s or Dark . From what I’ve heard, they’re the sort of games that are right down my ally: challenging, difficult and unyielding, with apparently good narratives too. I’ll consider the purchase whenever I see Dark Souls for sale on Steam.