14 DAY TRIAL // Developers at Polyphony Digital and publisher Sony surprised a lot of fans on Wednesday when they announced that the upcoming Gran Turismo 6 would be launched exclusively on the PlayStation 3 home console in winter 2013.
The community expressed disbelief because it was widely expected that the new racing game would introduce an entirely new game engine, designed to take advantage of the new PlayStation 4 console.
Sony explained that it is using the older console for Gran Turismo 6 because it already has a dedicated racing game audience and the development team knows how to get the best performance out of the hardware.
The leading developer also suggested that the game might be ported on the PS4 after it is finally launched.
But there might be deeper reasons for the decision to link Gran Turismo 6 to already available hardware: Sony might fear that its next-generation device will fail to attract a lot of players at launch.
Many players praised the Wii U before launch for its interesting features and its improved hardware, and the device has been nothing but a disappointment for Nintendo, and there are limited signs of improvement for the rest of 2013.
Sony and Microsoft are, of course, hoping that their next-gen platforms will perform much better, and there are signs of interest from fans and the wider gaming public.
But we still lack crucial information about the design and the pricing for the PlayStation 4, and next to no official information has been offered about the Xbox 720.
Putting Gran Turismo 6, with its impressive engine and its 1,200 cars, on the PlayStation 3 means that Sony is hedging its bets and wants to make sure that games publishing remains profitable even if the hardware side has a slump when the next gen of devices is introduced.