It’s tough to believe that thePlayStation 5has already been out for well over a year. With demand far outpacing supply, many Sony fans have yet to get their hands on the newest iteration of the longstanding PlayStation lineage. While it’s not likely to help with availability, prospective buyers in the UK can now purchase the firstPlayStation 5bundle package which includes the console-exclusive action-adventure titleHorizon Forbidden West.
While the package isn’t available in the United States quite yet, speculation suggests it will tout a fifty-dollar price increase over the base PlayStation 5. Given that most AAA PlayStation 5 titles go for seventy dollars, those who were planning to purchase both the console and the game will reap a twenty-dollar benefit. Despite thelatestHorizontitle enduring a review bombingat launch, the game performed well critically, though gamers are more likely to jump at whatever PlayStation 5 offer is currently available regardless of what critically-acclaimed game the console is bundled with.
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Horizon Forbidden Westmay seem like a superfluous addition, but Sony doesn’t typically wait very long to issue console bundles. Packagesbundling PS4 consoles with copies ofUncharted: The Nathan Drake CollectionorStar Wars Battlefrontwere available by 2015’s holiday season, and the PS3 was being paired with copies ofMetal Gear Solid 4as early as 2008. Of course, with no all-new Naughty Dog-developed title available for the PS5 yet and with theMetal Gearfranchise essentially MIA,Horizon Forbidden Westfeels like a reasonable choice for the first PlayStation 5 bundle.
However, Sony’s decision to go with the most recentHorizontitle may seem like an odd one to some given how intensely Bluepoint’sDemon’s Soulsremake was marketed during the console’s launch. Not only has it sold in excess of one million copies so far, butDemon’s Soulswas the most downloaded PS5 game in Japanin 2020. It could be that the publisher wanted to include something more approachable than the notoriously difficult FromSoftware title in the console’s first bundle, and this decision could also stem from Sony wish to push Aloy as a flagship gaming mascot for the ninth console generation.
It’s also worth noting that, while certainly less high-profile thanHorizon Forbidden West, everyPlayStation 5 console does come withAstro’s Playroom, which is ostensibly a short tech demo meant to showcase the new features included in the DualSense controller. Still, no matter what game Sony opts to bundle its system with, scarcity will have most buyers grabbing whatever console they can rather than waiting for a bundle.
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