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A PlayStation 5 port of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is on the way, according to developer Ninja Theory, with a release date slated for summer. It‛s the latest example of an increasing lineup of Xbox exclusives moving to the rival platform.
Via the announcement trailer, the version will be optimized for both PS5 and PS5 Pro, adding haptic feedback as well as new features. The latter will also become available for the game‛s existing platforms, Xbox Series X|S and PC, at launch.
“We have such incredible fans of Ninja Theory on PlayStation, going all the way back to the days of Heavenly Sword,” studio head Dom Matthews said in the announcement. “We‛re so pleased that we can welcome PlayStation fans back to Senua‛s story.”
The developer released the first game, Hellblade: Senua‛s Sacrifice, on PS4 in 2017, a year before Microsoft purchased the studio as part of an array of acquisitions in June 2018. Since then, Ninja Theory worked on 2020‛s Bleeding Edge, an online multiplayer game that stopped receiving support a year later, as well as Senua‛s Saga: Hellblade II.
Major Xbox Game Studios titles continue to land on rival console platforms
Ninja Theory isn’t the only developer under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella to port a major title to PS5. Earlier this month, The Coalition announced Gears of War: Reloaded, a remastered version of the first entry in the series, coming August 26. It also marks the series’ debut on PlayStation, alongside PC and Xbox Series X|S.
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Meanwhile, Bethesda released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PS5 last month, after its initial launch on Xbox and PC back on December 8. The port was announced during a Gamescom event last year, which was followed by a livestream in which Xbox head Phil Spencer emphasized that taking Indy’s adventure multiplatform was for the good of the brand.
“Our end result has to be better games that more people can play,” Spencer said at the time. “If we’re not focused on that, I think we’re focused on the wrong things.”
Prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda, subsidiary developer MachineGames meant for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to be multiplatform. A PS5 version was already in the works, but it was killed when the acquisition took place.
Developer Arkane was put in a similar situation with Redfall, which was at some point meant to release on PS5. With the acquisition, Xbox decided to turn it into an exclusive.
“It was ‘change’ with a capital C,” Arkane Austin studio director Harvey Smith said in an interview at the time. “They came in and they said ‘No, we’re focusing on PC and Game Pass’.”
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In May 2024, Microsoft closed Arkane Austin, as well as Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog games. Krafton acquired Tango in August 2024, while Redfall’s final update was released on May 30 of the same year.
Entertainment news Celebrity gossip Movie and TV show updates Latest celebrity news Trending entertainment stories About the Author
Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com
Diego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.
