Even though this current generation of consoles still has plenty of big name titles still to be released, attention has seemingly turned to 2020 when Microsoft and Sony are expected to launch their next big projects. Details are still relatively secret regarding the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett consoles, though bits of new information seem to arrive every so often. This week, it was EA who provided a little more insight into the next generation.
During EA's first quarter earnings call earlier this week, CFO Blake Jorgensen discussed the topic of next generation consoles and confirmed that the developer has been very active in that area. Jorgensen revealed that EA is excited about the console's 2020 arrival and that they're going to be ready as studios have been hard at work on Generation 5 games for some time.
Oddly enough, during the last earning call in the spring, Jorgensen admitted that the company was actually still in the discovery phase, which would imply that development had not actually begun on next generation games.
Regardless, Jorgensen's comments also hinted at a possible release window for the PlayStation 5, likely coming after next year's Madden. While not all games will launch on the next generation consoles immediately, the plan seems to be to release some games like Madden at the console launch date instead of when the series typically launches in August.
As has happened in the past, not all games will come out on Gen 5 immediately. Obviously, games like Madden, you probably bring the Gen 5 game out when the Gen 5 console ships, not when Madden itself ships.
While the company remains bullish on the prospect of next generation consoles, it appears to be less so when it comes to the Nintendo Switch. Earlier this week, CEO Andrew Wilson commented that he believes most Switch owners also have access to other gaming platforms and would rather play the company's games on those instead. While the idea is mainly backed up by data models the company has run, the fact remains that a few of the EA games released on the Switch like FIFA 18 have not been up to par with other versions which had features cut or missing entirely. Naturally, this is going to cause players to pick up the game on other platforms considering it has more content.
Source: Video Games Chronicle