Incoming superhero title Gotham Knights is one of the few games that isn’t available on previous-generation consoles. It’s rare that a game releases only on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, but that is precisely what has happened here, as Gotham Knights will not be coming out on PS4 and Xbox One.
The title was originally confirmed for PS4 and Xbox One, before WB Games Montréal decided to drop those older consoles from its plans. Gotham Knights is missing on those platforms, which means that some players will miss out.
PS5 stock and Xbox Series X stock are still hard to come by, after all, although the Xbox Series S is more widely available (the £249 console is in stock at Amazon right now).
If you’re finding yourself asking “Why isn’t Gotham Knights on PS4 and Xbox One?” you’ll want to read on. Discover below why Gotham Knights isn’t on PS4 and Xbox One and why it is a current-gen only release.
Why isn’t Gotham Knights on PS4 and Xbox One?
New game Gotham Knights isn’t on the PS4 or Xbox One because the development team felt that the previous generation consoles were holding the game back. It was a decision that wasn’t taken lightly, but WB Games Montréal thought it was better off focusing efforts to deliver a polished experience on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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Speaking on a Discord AMA (thanks mp1st), WB Games Montréal executive producer Fleur Marty goes into some detail about why Gotham Knights will not be released on PS4 and Xbox One. It’s explained that, “when considering the scale and scope of Gotham Knights we had to prioritise and focus our efforts to deliver the game at a satisfying level of quality for current gen.”
The development team acknowledge that the decision to go current gen only “is upsetting to players” who don’t own either an Xbox SeriesX/S or a PS5. They add, too, that they “really didn’t make [the] decision lightly”. Ultimately, though, Fleur Marty explains that the team “wanted to focus on delivering a game [it is] truly proud of”.
Given the amount of detail going on in the Gotham City streets at any moment, and that Gotham Knights only manages to run at 30fps on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S it is somewhat understandable that it wasn’t able to run so smoothly on PS4 and Xbox One. If the game can’t run at 60fps on current gen machines, we dread to think how it would have played on previous gen consoles.
At least the game is not just available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, as you can play it on PC too. As long as your rig is powerful enough to run it, that is. Given that the current gen has been out for a couple of years by now, you’re likely to see more and more titles skipping the PS4 and Xbox One from now on. Gotham Knights is just one of the first.
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