EA: Next-Gen Consoles Unlikely to be Backwards Compatible

The next generation of consoles are unlikely to support backwards compatibility, according to EA's chief financial officer.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference Q&A session (via Gamasutra), Blake Jorgensen explained that the current generation of consoles still had some mileage left in them as a result.



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An important thing to remember is that next-gen consoles will most likely not be backwards compatible.


"An important thing to remember is that next-gen consoles will most
likely not be backwards compatible," he stated. "If you [play]
multiplayer on a game, you'll most likely not be able to play with
someone on a different generation."

Jorgensen went on to explain that sports games would play a large
role in keeping current gen consoles relevant, as if the new boxes don't
launch until December, that'll be midway through the season so you're
likely to keep playing on your PS3 or Xbox 360 until next year.

"Fiscal year 2014 will still be a fairly large gen-three if there's a
console business that comes in at the tail end of the year, mainly
because a lot of our titles are built around sports calendars... And if a
next-gen console doesn't come out until next Christmas, most people
won't wait. They'll want to be involved in getting those titles early,
because their friends are all playing those titles," he posited. "If
they all hold on and continue to play on third-generation, you'll
probably not see that box purchase until after the soccer season's
over."

Sony and Microsoft still haven't confirmed anything about the
next-generation of consoles, but thankfully it looks like we won't have
to wait much longer. It's looking likely that the next PlayStation will
be revealed a week today while Microsoft will surely spill the beans
shortly after, probably around E3.