EA isn't ready to give up on last-gen consoles, no next-gen exclusives

Electronic Arts won't have any next-gen exclusive games this fiscal year, and all of its FY2022 titles will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well.

Today EA confirmed that all of its major games in its FY2022 timeline (April 2021 - March 2022) will be cross-gen titles that release on both PS4 and Xbox One as well as next-gen PS5 and Series X. This includes the new Battlefield and all annualized EA Sports releases. EA CEO Andrew Wilson clarifies that while these games will come to PS4 and Xbox One, they will play best on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

"All of our EA Sports titles for FY22 are designed for next-gen console platforms, including FIFA, Madden NFL, NHL, and EA Sports PGA Tour," Wilson said.

The rationale behind the decision is clear: EA doesn't want to miss out on the 140 million+ combined PS4 and Xbox One playerbase.

The PlayStation 5's install base is very small right now, only totaling up to 7.8 million shipments. Sony expects to move over 14.8 million PS5s by March 2022, which would boost total PS5 install base to 22.6 million. That's small potatoes compared to the massive 114 million install base of the PlayStation 4. EA is a business, after all, and game sales + live service revenues depend on wider access.

Wilson also clarified that Battlefield 6 is also coming to last-gen hardware too:

"Battlefield will be available for current-gen and next-gen as well as sports titles. The reference specifically from our prepared remarks is around the nature of gameplay and what we can do with fidelity of the game, what we can do with physics, artificial intelligence and the immersive nature of the game, and in the case of Battlefield, what we can do with the amount of players that we can have in a game and the nature of destruction in only-in-Battlefield moments that are truly next-gen opportunities that we're able to do in the context of our next-gen franchises because of the increased processing power and memory output of the new consoles."

Wilson asserts the games will look and play great regardless of platform:

"We're getting more and more out of last-generation platforms so those games are going to look great."

My biggest question is: Will next-gen versions cost $70, and will current-gen versions also get a free next-gen version too?

• Read Also: EA: Battlefield 6 coming to PS4, Xbox One, not next-gen exclusive
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