Sony delays Destruction AllStars until 2021 – move looks to highlight new PS+ strategy

The already thin launch lineups of the next-gen consoles have taken another blow, with Sony delaying its vehicular combat title Destruction AllStars to February 2021. Although a simple delay in the completion of the game doesn’t seem to be the whole story here.

Intriguingly, the title will now be making its February debut on PlayStation Plus, where it will reside for two months  – a unique decision to our understanding. Anyone with a current pre-order will have their money refunded. It will be intriguing to see if the game marks the first PS5 exclusive on the PS+ service.

“Destruction AllStars is a multiplayer game that’s at its best when you’re competing with gamers online from all around the world. We want as many people as possible to experience the mayhem on PS5, and what better way to do that than to provide the game to our PlayStation Plus members?” Said Sony’s Pete Smith in a blog post.

It was always a brave move to launch a title such as Destruction AllStars as a PS5 exclusive. Such multiplayer games rely on having a big pool of players to play with. Not only would such numbers be limited by PS5 hardware units, it would also be launching straight into the jaws of major triple-A hitters such Cyberpunk, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty.

Failure to find traction in such a marketplace would be easy to understand, and the game could have quickly sunk without trace, or had the ignominious fate of being shunted to a free-to-play model in short order, angering any early adopters in the process. 

Instead, Sony looks to have taken positive action now, likely having seen the success that Fall Guys gained off its PlayStation Plus launch debut, and thought that looks to be a much better model for its promising-looking combat game. 

February looks like a far better period for it to find its feet, and we wish Lucid Games all the best with the new launch date.