Wreckreation won’t release on PS4 and Xbox One, THQ Nordic confirms

There has been some confusion surrounding Wreckreation’s platforms. When the open-world arcade racer was announced in 2022, it was slated for both current and last-generation platforms, including PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

Fast forward to 2023, and the last-generation versions were seemingly cancelled, with the PS4 and Xbox One logos vanishing in that year’s THQ Nordic Showcase trailer. This was our last look at Wreckreation until last month’s new destruction-filled trailer.

While the last-generation platform logos still aren’t shown, the trailer description says “Wreckreation is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.”

Adding to the confusion, Wreckreation is currently slated for PS4 and Xbox One on the platform holder’s digital store pages – the PlayStation Store even lists it as PS4 Pro enhanced.

On 1st August, an official social media post announced that Wreckreation racer is “coming to PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.” Conversely, the game’s official website only lists the current-generation platforms.

While this was presumably a mistake, we reached out to THQ Nordic for clarification. In response, the publisher confirmed to Traxion that Wreckreation won’t be released on PS4 and Xbox One. As expected, it’s slated for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC only.

It’s not surprising to see Wreckreation abandon the ancient PS4 and Xbox One consoles. We’re now five years into the current generation, and more developers are moving away from the last-generation platforms to take advantage of more powerful hardware.

Featuring a 400-square-kilometre open world, Wreckreation is an ambitious project for the small team at Three Fields Entertainment, which can now focus on optimising the game for current platforms.

Despite appearing in THQ Nordic’s annual Digital Showcase event earlier this month, Wreckreation doesn’t have a release window, so it’s unclear if it’s aiming for a 2025 launch. However, responding to fans on X, formerly Twitter, Three Fields assures that we “won’t be waiting long” for its release.

Earlier this year, Three Fields announced that Wreckreation is in “finalling mode,” implying that development is nearly finished.

Developed by former Criterion staff, including original Burnout creators Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, Wreckreation’s open-world arcade racing and vehicle destruction looks like the Burnout Paradise spiritual successor we’ve been waiting for.

This is mixed with a track creator where players can add track sections and props live with other players, drawing comparisons with TrackMania.