Tacoma Creator Steve Gaynor has placed lots of emphasis on the Xbox One and PC builds of the game, but apparently a PS4 version isn’t out of the question. Speaking to Player.One, Gaynor chatted about platform exclusivity and what’s next from his studio.
With regard to his partnership with Microsoft, Gaynor said, “We're only on Xbox and PC at this point.” That said, he also added, “But this is not a lifetime console-exclusive thing necessarily.” And while that leaves the doors wide open for a PS4 version of Tacoma, it’s not happening anytime soon.
Instead, Gaynor and his team are currently working to make Tacoma a better experience for the Xbox One X. While there’s still lots of work for his small team to do to get that update through certification, the current plan is to offer an uncapped framerate at 1080p or a capped framerate at 4K resolution on applicable displays. “There's still a bunch of work to be done on the platforms that we're on now, so that's really our focus,” he reiterated.
Although Gaynor and his team won't have time to develop Tacoma on PS4 until they complete the updates for Xbox One X and PC, the studio is actively experimenting with ideas for the next game. While Gone Home and Tacoma are both smart evolutions of Gaynor’s prior work on the BioShock series, he expressed some hesitation to tap into that well any further.
“I think that whatever we do next will probably not continue directly down this line. We've done enough in this space that I would be weary of us having more to say that's in this exact design space right now.
“With Gone Home and Tacoma, those games really started from who we had, what we wanted to do and what our strengths were. While making Tacoma, we built a team of seven or eight people. When we're thinking about what we do next, we need to think in terms of what comes from this team. What does this group of people do? What isn't just me and Karla saying ‘what should we do next?’ What’s something that comes from the group of people that have turned into this creative unit over the course of building Tacoma? We want to make something that expresses that message.
“We're a different studio now in a lot of ways. We were brought together because we wanted to work on the stuff that we have made, but we want to be open to what we can do together in the future that might not be limited by the same factors and might not be defined in the same way that our current games have been,” Gaynor mused.
While the format of Fullbright’s next experience may not elaborate on the Gone Home design, the studio head clarified that placing narrative front and center will likely always be part of the studio’s DNA. “We'll almost certainly be more drawn to something where we can do something interesting with the world and the characters that live in it,” Gaynore assured.
Until a formal announcement is ready, however, Gaynor and his group are taking some time to relax, visit family and catch up on some of the latest games. He made special mention to NeiR: Automata, Wolfenstein II and 2002’s Fatal Frame as possible sources of inspiration in the months ahead.
On the indie side, Gaynor was also quick to call out Detention, a political-psychological horror experience crafted by RedCandleGames that reflects on some harsh political realities that previously faced the country of Taiwan. He described it as a short, narrative-focused game that builds off the legacy of Silent Hill.
Tacoma is available now on Xbox One and PC, while Gone Home is available on Xbox One, PC and PS4. For more from this interview, read Gaynor’s thoughts on politics in games and recent loot crate fiascos.
Are you surprised Fullbright’s next game may not be taking cues from Gone Home? Would you play Tacoma again if it came to PS4? Tell us in the comments section!
