OMG! We never thought it would happen. It was never supposed to happen, but it has. The runnin'-and-gunnin', 1930s-style, bullet-hell, mega-hit Cuphead is now playing on a PlayStation 4 near you. That's right. Developer Studio MDHR has already ported it to the Sony console and made it available today.
Well, that came completely out of left field. Studio MDHR announced on Tuesday that not only is it bringing its bullet-hell platformer Cuphead to the PlayStation 4, but the game already launched earlier today. The developer introduced the game to PlayStation fans with a blog post and a quirky stop-motion animated trailer (below).
The news is quite surprising because, in 2017, Studio MDHR artist Tyler Moldenhauer said that Cuphead would never come to PlayStation 4, barring some catastrophic financial failure.
"[Cuphead] is exclusive to Xbox and PC (with Steam and Win10 versions at launch and a GoG release likely shortly after)," Moldenhauer said in a NeoGAF forum discussion going by the handle "Teeth." "There will likely be a Mac version down the road and possibly a Linux version beyond that (unless we lose our houses or whatever)...We own the Cuphead IP."
Studio co-founder Ryan Moldenhauer later officially confirmed that what Tyler said was true.
"It's 100 percent true. Cuphead is a console exclusive for Xbox One. There will be no PS4 version," the studio director told Eurogamer.
So did the studio heads lose their houses? Not likely. It was probably more a case of being at a different place and time than three years ago. The color of money from a new demographic becomes more appealing as a game ages, as we have seen with the plethora of remakes of late.
Studio MDHR's other co-founder, Chad Moldenhauer, would probably rather everyone forget the studio's previous adamant stance on a PS4 port. His blog post paints an entirely different picture of the subject.
"I'm extremely excited to announce that Cuphead is headed to PlayStation 4! And you won't have to wait to get your hands on it, because the game is available today. Like so many of you, we grew [up] exploring the worlds of classic PlayStation titles, from Resident Evil to Vandal Hearts. So it's surreal to think about players adventuring through Cuphead today with a PlayStation controller in hand."
That certainly doesn't sound like someone who was deadset against a PS4 version just three years ago.
No matter the motivations, PlayStation 4 users will finally be able to see what all the fuss was about. Cuphead is available now on the PlayStation Network for $20.