Techland, the developer behind the first-person zombie survival game, Dying Light , has just announced that it’ll be cancelling the development of the game for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3, while development focuses on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC versions.
This revised release plan, according to an open letter to Dying Light fans, is “ tightly connected to the technological side ” of the game. Because of this, the developer feels that the previous-gen consoles won’t do the game justice, as the game’s demanding features is considered to be only possible on technologically advanced platforms, i.e. the PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.
After thorough internal testing, the developer then came to the conclusion that it had “ no choice but to leave past-gen systems behind and release Dying Light exclusively on the next-gen consoles and PC. ”
“ To ensure you enjoy Dying Light as much as we would like you to, we chose to release it without any compromises on the three strongest systems available, ” Techland wrote in its letter. “ Thanks to this, you’ll get the full and best experience regardless of the platform you play on. ”
Aside from the changes in launch platforms, the release date for Dying Light remains unaltered; the game will still release next year, in 2015, on Tuesday, January 27 in North America, Wednesday, January 28 in Australia and New Zealand, and Friday, January 30th release in Europe and Asia. The game will sell for $49.99 (or your regional equivalent) on PC and $59.99 on console.
Techland’s full open letter has been detailed below. We’ll bring you more news on Dying Light should further information reach our ears.
“ Dear Gamers,
As you probably know, we’re wrapping up the development of Dying Light , our biggest and most ambitious project to date. We spent the last three years making sure that all the features of our game add up to create a truly next-gen experience.
Much of this “next-gen feel” is tightly connected to the technological side of Dying Light . For instance, up to 200,000 objects can be displayed in the game at once. Add to this our use of realistic, physics-based lighting technology and you really start to push the next-gen systems to the limits. Features like these along with our core gameplay pillars – such as the player-empowering Natural Movement, threefold character development system, and vast open world – are all an inherent part of how Dying Light plays. However, combining all of these into one fluid experience is only possible on technologically advanced platforms.
Therefore, after thorough internal testing, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to leave past-gen systems behind and release Dying Light exclusively on the next-gen consoles and PC. Put simply, older consoles just couldn’t run the game and stay true to the core vision of Dying Light at the same time.
To ensure you enjoy Dying Light as much as we would like you to, we chose to release it without any compromises on the three strongest systems available. Thanks to this, you’ll get the full and best experience regardless of the platform you play on.
We hope you understand the hard choice we’ve had to make. With the launch just around the corner, we can’t wait to show you Dying Light in the state it was meant to be. We’re looking forward to your reactions and impressions as we release the game in January 2015. ”