This new generation has been a bit of an anomaly in terms of how developers and consumers have chosen to transition to the newer consoles- unlike previous generations, where they would move on to the new consoles rather swiftly, and cease development for the older machines in a short timeframe, both developers and consumers have staunchly refused to let go of the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The result? Almost every major multiplatform game is still announced with a PS3 and Xbox 360 version.
The same was also the case for EA, DICE, and Visceral’s urban warfare reboot of Battlefield, Battlefield Hardline. It was made available for last gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles in addition to new gen ones. Apparently, though, that didn’t matter- EA is now reporting that 80% of the console sales of the game came from the PS4 and Xbox One versions anyway.
“Illustrating how far the [next gen] transition has come, four out of every five copies sold for consoles that were either Xbox One or PlayStation 4,” said EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen in a statement released alongside EA’s earnings report.
Personally, I hope this is a trend that is increasingly reflected industry wide- I don’t want the weaker last gen consoles holding back games any more.
