Theme Hospital was one of those 90s video games that I easily sunk hundreds of hours into growing up, as my first foray into simulation games. I spent many years building up hospitals and treating its virtual patients of an array of increasingly wacky diseases… but like all games…. interest in it was eventually usurped by new games supported by new hardware.
While it may have taken two decades, the hospital simulation genre had new life breathed into it with Two Point Studios’ PC release of Two Point Hospital in 2018. Helmed by a development team which included original developers of the classic game, it really deserved its title of Theme Hospital’s spiritual successor and even now is a game I will still boot up on a quiet evening.
Earlier this year, publisher SEGA confirmed that Two Point Hospital would be released on the three major home video game consoles – PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch – by the end of the year. The release date has today been pushed back, with Two Point Studios now providing a broad “First Half of 2020” launch window. The reason given in a blog post by Brand Director Craig Laycock is:
Put simply: making a management simulation game on three consoles (and making it the best it possibly can be on all three), is a tricky programming puzzle.
We have to take the game apart and figure out how to fit it into what is essentially a smaller box. That takes a fair amount of time and engineering work, and it turns out we need to take a little more to iron out the remaining creases.
Two Point Studios
Furthermore, Game Director Mark Webley also stated the following:
Our community have asked for Two Point Hospital on consoles for a while now and we want to make sure we deliver a game that can be enjoyed to the fullest on all platforms. This means we will need a little bit more time to optimise the game to ensure the best possible experience across all platforms.
Mark Webley, Game Director at Two Point Studios
