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Is Project Zomboid Coming to Console?

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Project Zomboid is an incredible game, and it has done a lot to bring new and old fans alike into the zombie genre over the years. From its humble origins as an Early Access title on Steam, the steady updates and constantly refreshed content have kept fans shambling back for more meat off its bones. There’s also the rather resilient modding scene that’s been active for years keeping fans engaged. The zombie title has a lot of hardcore fans, but it could always use more.

That’s where the question of new platforms for versions of the game comes in. A Project Zomboid console port would be great, and fans on platforms like the Switch would love to take their adventures on the go, but there’s been a lot of issues with that over the years. Let’s talk about it.

Is Project Zomboid Coming to Console?

So here’s what we know. For one thing, a Project Zomboid console port would lose a lot of the different features that make the game special. The loss of free multiplayer and modding is a no-go for many gamers. But there’s an even bigger barricade standing in its path—the technical nightmare of actually porting the game.

The developer of Project Zomboid gets this question a ton, and they always have the same answer. You can do very little to port some games, and that’s exactly what they point out. The Playstation and Xbox’s hardware architecture isn’t suited to high-demand games with a  lot of procedural generation and tons of randomized elements. That’s due to the CPU and shared GPU architecture making it very difficult to balance system resources with the demand for some games—which in turn makes games with tons of NPCs and background calculations hard to manage. The number of things that PZ does in the background would have to be completely rewritten to accommodate the system it’s running on. So in short, there’s very little chance of a Switch of Xbox port any time soon.

All Project Zomboid Platforms

Though the devs do keep the door open with the possibility of a port as consoles improve, there’s still a lot of uncertainty left. The evolution of game consoles compared to the power of PCs isn’t always a linear or predictable thing, and that’s always going to be the case. Players will just have to be content with the versions of the zombie adventure they have now.

As of now, PZ is only out on PC—there has been some speculation, but nothing confirmed, about a port to consoles like the Switch. Given the fact that the game can work on the Steam Deck, there was some glimmer of hope that folks would see another version, but those hopes will remain dashed for now.

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