After weathering a controversial porting process, the 2D-tunneler will be joining the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade before the end of March.
It would safe to say that Terraria was an indie hit. The game sold more than 200,000 copies in its first week, a considerable success for Re-Logic, the studio behind it. Originally developed for the PC, 505 Games announced in September 2012 that it, in cooperation with Engine Software, would be porting Terraria to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Announcements since then pointed to an early 2013 release but to no specific dates. That is, gladly, no longer the case. 505 Games, has confirmed that Terraria will be available on PSN in North America on March 26th, with a global XBLA release a day later on the 27th. European PSN users can expect a release date for their region to be announced shortly.
The console ports of Terraria were a point of some controversy amongst some fans of the original PC game. This turmoil arose when it was confirmed that bonus content being developed by Engine Software for the console ports, including new bosses and multiplayer options, would not be making their way to the PC version. Rather than any intentional shorting of the PC crowd, this exclusivity came as a result of the division of ownership between the different versions of the games.
505 Games and Engine Software were dealing with the console ports, but the original PC version was still under the control of Re-Logic and Andrew Spinks, Terraria’s creator. Spinks had previously expressed a desire to move on from Terraria to other projects and told fans that there would be no further updates to the PC version. His departure from the game would be short-lived; he is already back in the saddle and making new content for the Terraria that, in his words, will be “huge.”
The drama of the porting aside, it’s going to be a treat for console gamers to finally get their hands on Terraria. The game was regarded very highly by many critics who praised it for its challenge, exploration, and creativity. It’s never a bad thing for a good game to reach new hands and, with luck, Terraria will find even more success on consoles than it did on PC.
