Despite the original High on Life having a seven-month console exclusivity deal with Microsoft, sequel High on Life 2 launched last week across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S simultaneously. It's available at no extra cost on Game Pass, but the decision to put it on PlayStation right off the bat this time around came largely due to Sony's hardware being the "lead platform" for the first game.
In an interview with TechRadar, Squanch Games CEO Mike Fridley says, "Shockingly, even after a delay on the Sony launch—because of an exclusivity clause with the first game that Microsoft had—[PlayStation is] still our lead platform." So, it's no surprise the studio wanted to launch the game on PS5 right away this time.
But, you're reading PC Gamer, not PS5 Gamer, so what does this have to do with us? Well, Fridley says, "our lead platform is Sony, Steam is right behind it as far as units sold." Second place, baby, we take that.
Another potential reason for the decision to avoid an Xbox console exclusive is the recent Game Pass price hike. "I'm sure they've probably seen subscriber numbers go down a bit; so those people have to play it somewhere," Fridley says. That somewhere is right here on PC—and PlayStation, I guess.
There's another benefit to launching on multiple platforms simultaneously that many may not have considered: it's cheaper. "We don't have to do two marketing pushes… we're just piggybacking off our own marketing to sell the same copy," Fridley says.
Despite this, High on Life 2 being on Game Pass does come with perks for Squanch Games. "What we found on the first time around was Microsoft and Xbox support their Game Pass games very heavily," Fridley says.
He adds that the team is still in "franchise building mode," so getting the game in front of as many eyes as possible is worth any potential cannibalisation of sales.
If you haven't tried the game out for yourself yet, read our High on Life 2 review where staff writer Morgan Park wrote it's a game that's "a game that's unabashedly a fan of gross stuff," but also "not entertained by cruelty or allergic to being genuine."
