Developer Hi-Rez has confirmed that there are currently no plans to release a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of Tribes: Ascend.
Speaking with Gamasutra, studio head Todd Harris revealed that while the developer flirted with the idea of bringing the shooter to consoles, the game’s business model prevented any hope of a port.
"We do not have any plans for Tribes on console at this time," said Harris. "The way it went is that we wanted to do the free-to-play model, and there wasn’t a clear path to that on consoles early on. Based on that, we optimized the game around the strengths of the PC, and specifically a keyboard and mouse control.”
"Once we decided it’d only be on the PC, we optimized around speed, a quick turn radius, and PC game controls. We’re still interested in free-to-play on consoles, but at this point, we have nothing specific to Tribes on console."
Tribes is a free-to-player FPS that has notched up over 800,000 registered accounts following its launch on PC last month to critical acclaim.
“It’s really our belief that for an online multiplayer game, particularly, free-to-play is the best model for gamers and for studios.”