As is usually the case with console generation transitions, most major games that are going to release for at least the next year or so are likely going to be cross-gen games, catering to audiences across the eighth and ninth generation consoles. Milestone’s upcoming motocross sim MXGP 2020 follows that as well- but only partially so.
When the game launches not long from now, it will be available on both PS4 and PS5 (alongside PC), but on Xbox, it will only be releasing for the Xbox One. Why exactly is that the case?
Speaking to GamingBolt in a recent interview, lead game designer Alex Basilio said that the decision to not release a native Xbox Series X/S port was made due to “a remarkable productive effort” to balance not only a console generation transition, but also having to work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, Basilio assures that the game will still have optimizations on the new Xbox consoles thanks to their backward compatibility features.
“The transition between two generation of consoles, new digital platforms and the global pandemic that is requiring remote working for all our developers (safety of our people is a priority for us), caused a remarkable productive effort in our studio that forced our dev team to take hard decisions,” Basilio said. “The incredible power of the Xbox Series X/S will allow our players to enjoy an optimized version of MXGP 2020, even without a specific release.”
MGXP 2020 launches on December 10. On the PS5, it will feature support for the DualSense’s new features and run in dynamic 4K at 60 FPS.