Beyond: Two Souls Chose PS3’s Wide Install Base Over PS4’s Early Adopters

Instead of taking advantage of the power of the PlayStation 4 and riding the next-generation wave of excitement, Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream chose to launch its next game on the aging PlayStation 3. This is the last major first-party release on this particular piece of hardware, and while some people questioned the studio’s platform choice, writer David Cage knows this is the smartest business decision.

“We had this discussion with Sony at some point about should we release this game on PlayStation 4, or should we release it on PlayStation 3, and our position has always been that we want to be on PlayStation 3, because we think it’s a very exciting moment for the console as it has the bigger install base,” Cage said in a new interview with VG247.

“It’ll be years before PlayStation 4 has that audience. In this type of experience, we want as wide a market as possible because you want to talk to the mass market, and not necessarily the early adopters of the new console. We also did the same thing with Fahrenheit on PlayStation 2, and we thought it was the right decision.”

It’s a difficult decision, as the buzz surrounding the PS3 isn’t exactly at an all-time high at this point. The PS4 currently boasts well over 1 million pre-orders, so launching alongside the fervor could have been an interesting move. But that’s not the decision that Quantic made, so we can instead wait to see what the team could squeeze out of Sony’s current hardware when Two Souls releases Oct. 8.