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Dragon Age 4 is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but it will not get versions for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. This isn’t too shocking, but it does show that developers like BioWare are ready to leave the last-gen consoles behind. This news comes from the LinkedIn profile for Dragon Age’s lead player designer at BioWare (hat tip to Faizan Shaikh). But I’ve also separately confirmed that EA is planning the game only for the new-gen systems.
Moving on to new hardware seems like the natural order for video game software development, but it’s something that many companies are shying away from. BioWare most recently released Mass Effect: Legendary Edition in May. But that collection didn’t even get a version native to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. Instead, EA and BioWare released it only for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and then used the backward compatibility on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
EA is also preparing to launch DICE’s Battlefield 2042 as a cross-gen game. That modern-military shooter debuts on November 19 — a year after the release of the Xbox Series X and PS5 — but EA isn’t ready to leave last-gen players behind yet.
Dragon Age 4 doesn’t need cross-gen to succeed
While EA isn’t ready to leave PS4 and Xbox One Battlefield fans behind yet, it’s preparing to do exactly that for BioWare games. The reason for that discrepancy is that the market is shifting quickly.
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As time marches forward, developers and publishers see diminishing benefits from straddling generations. Supporting older hardware can introduce complications for developers who need to get their games running on old, slow CPUs and GPUs. This is something that is causing problems for Battlefield 2042 in particular. But the reality is that the audience that is most likely to spend money to buy new games is moving on quickly to PS5 and Xbox Series X.
By the time Dragon Age 4 is ready, the new consoles will have a sizable audience capable of turning games with blockbuster budgets into games with blockbuster sales.
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Author: Jeff Grubb
Source: Venturebeat
