Layers Of Fear Devs Explain Why Their Next Game Is Skipping Current-Gen For Xbox Series X

Whereas many of the games releasing at the end of 2020 will come to current- and next-generation consoles, Bloober Team's The Medium is skipping the older systems and only coming to Xbox Series X and PC.

Jacek Zięba, a producer at Bloober Team, said in a new interview with Xbox that bypassing the current-generation consoles is in the best interest of The Medium. "We don't have any porting plans for current-gen consoles, so the Xbox Series X will offer the experience we always meant for the game," he said.

Zięba said Bloober could have released The Medium on Xbox One, but this would have come at a cost. "Of course, theoretically, you could rescope any game idea, but in our case it would mean completely changing the core game features," he said. "Thanks to the power of Xbox Series X, we can develop the game the way we have always envisioned it."

"This is truly a great piece of hardware, one that enables us to realize our vision of the game without compromises. I can't wait for the fans to see what the console is really capable of," Zięba said.

In addition to better graphics, Bloober will be using the power of the Series X to beef up the "interactions between the real world and the spirit world," Zięba teased.

"The marketing team will kill me if I say too much too soon, but we're using the extra power to really push what’s possible gameplay-wise on the next generation," Zięba added.

Bloober Team previously developed 2019's Blair Witch. In The Medium, you play as a medium who travels to a spooky hotel where a child was murdered many years ago. "As a medium with access to both worlds, you have a wider perspective and can see more clearly that there's no one simple truth to what others perceive. Nothing is what it seems, everything has another side," reads a line from the game's official description.

The music for The Medium was composed in part by Akira Yamaoka, who is known for his work on the Silent Hill games. Yamaoka is also attached to make the music for the Cyberpunk 2077 anime.

Update and correction: this story has been updated to remove a line about 4K/60fps. GameSpot regrets the error.