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GAMING NEWS

EA: Next-Gen Consoles Probably Won't Be Backwards Compatible

Posted on Wednesday, February 13 @ 08:48:00 Eastern by Alex_Osborn

Just as you all feared, there's a good chance that the next Xbox and PlayStation won't be backwards compatible.

Blake Jorgensen, EA's chief financial officer, discussed the probability of this reality at a Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference Q&A session, saying, "An important thing to remember is that next-gen consoles will most likely not be backwards compatible. If you [play] multiplayer on a game, you'll most likely not be able to play with someone on a different generation."

Is backwards compatibility an important function to you? Which do you find more important, digital or physical backwards compatibility? It will be very interesting to see how everything pans out when Microsoft and Sony finally do reveal their next-gen hardware. In the meantime, let us know what you think about all of this in the comments below.
Tags:   EA, next-gen


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Comments
  • wildmario
    wildmario

    Joined: Jan 2007
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 8:57 am
    Backwards compatibility is a great thing to have as it reduces clutter in your gaming area (no need to have multiple consoles in a single area).


    I am betting backwards compatibility will be cut in order to reduce costs. If anything, older games will probably be digital downloads in the future.
  • Alex_Osborn
    Alex_Osborn

    Joined: Jan 2012
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 10:19 am
    I agree 100%.
  • Bretimus_v2
    Bretimus_v2

    Joined: Jan 2009
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 9:00 am
    Considering how crappy the PS3 was at backwards compatability (glitching within certain games and what not), I wish I hadn't sold my PS2 slim.
  • moretokes
    moretokes

    Joined: Apr 2011
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 10:18 am
    Do you forget how bad Xbox was at backward compatibility? I don't want it anymore. Last time they did backwards compatbility they ****ed it up. I just don't wanna go through that again
  • thedarkstar
    thedarkstar

    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 9:16 am
    I think backwards compatibility is important. For me, it was one of the reasons I bought my Ps2, Wii, and to a lesser extent, my 360 (most of my games worked at the time). Not only does it reduce clutter, like wildmario said, it is almost a no-brainer for purchasing it at that point.

    "Oh, this can play all the games I have now, plus newer, cooler ones? I'll take one, please!"

    The downside is hardware makers sometimes remove it later in the console life cycle, to reduce costs, again, like wildmario said.
  • wildmario
    wildmario

    Joined: Jan 2007
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 9:19 am
    One other thing I forgot to mention is at some point, developers have to cut off backwards play because if you are going by physical form, we will be building up on two gens or more worth of hardware that developers have to shove into a current gen console.
  • phlogiston
    phlogiston

    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 9:40 am
    Given how CERTAIN PEOPLE are trying to gut the used games market, this makes a lot of sense. Sadly.
  • ballabert
    ballabert

    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 9:41 am
    Backwards compatibility is huge, but I wouldn't expect either of them to do it. Ha! Yeah this news coming from EA is a big surprise. "Backwards compatibility probably won't work because we need you to PAY!"
    I would think this would be a huge opportunity for one or the other companies. If MS didn't have it but Sony did, that would make the choice for some much easier
  • moretokes
    moretokes

    Joined: Apr 2011
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 10:28 am
    That is true
  • Sourdeez
    Sourdeez

    Joined: Feb 2012
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 1:11 pm
    I have emulators on my pc. Isnt that backwards compatibility? :D
  • ballabert
    ballabert

    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 1:21 pm
    Hell yeah! But one of my biggest disappointments ever was finally beating Road Rash 3 on my PC, and then... NOTHING HAPPENS!!! no cutscene (well, what passed for cutscenes back then!), not "Congrats", it doesn't even role credits! Glad I didn't beat the game when I was little, probably would've cried haha
  • sli
    sli

    Joined: Mar 2012
    Posted: Feb 18th, 2013 at 8:27 pm
    I'm uninformed, but shouldn't backwards compatibility be only a software thing? I mean, isn't a dev kit nothing but a PC running some sort of emulation?
  • shandog137
    shandog137

    Joined: Mar 2007
    Posted: Feb 13th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
    I don't need full backwards compatibility but last gen compatibility is a must or I won't be buying a next gen system for several years after release. If the life cycle of the consoles was as advertised (10 years) then I could see no backwards compatibility but as they haven't hit that mark I don't see why not. Also, their was a shift in media from CD-Roms to blu-ray which will not be the case this time around. I am seeing blu-ray plus a more robust digital offering but I think the comments it's super difficult to do or not cost effective is a bit of a cop-out. Particularly for the first iterations of nex-gen systems when the library will pale in comparison to 7+ years of current gen offerings. Just saying
  • Zpyder
    Zpyder

    Joined: Sep 2010
    Posted: Feb 14th, 2013 at 1:47 am
    Backwards compatability is the ONLY reason I bought a Wii U, I have a MASSIVE backlog of games to play in this console cycle so it's really important to me to be able to play them, and there are only so many consoles you can hook up at one time. If the next gen isn't backward compatable, I'll probably turn to PC gaming more and more, because it doesn't matter if you buy a game released today or 10 years ago, you can still play it on your PC. I like having all my games in once place and already have a PS3, PS2, Wii U, 360 and PC hooked up to my rig. I won't be buying next gen consoles for a while if I can't play my old games

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