Next Gen: When should the cutoff be in supporting current gen hardware?



This probably isn't the best way to calculate this, but looking at Wikipedia, each generation has an average 8-year overlap which must make sense to investor and shareholders but is also extremely long to me for gamers who wants to move on and not want early to mid gen next gen games to be held back (as we are kinda seeing that right now).

2024 might not be the last year for 8th gen consoles, as we could see studios make games for them until.....2027.



Should there be a cutoff for past gen hardware? should it be much shorter?
 
When people stop buying games for older hardware. Companies are in business to make money. If they can still make enough money on older hardware to justify game compatibility there then more power to them. I have no interest in seeing millions of older consoles go into a landfill just because some other guy wants more pixels on the screen.
 
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I think that companies are already moving to next-gen only
Main reason why we are still seeing cross-gen games is delays. Don't forget that Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 or Ragnarok was supposed to come out in 2021. Same for Hogwarts Legacy or games like Dead Island 2, Atomic Heart etc. If you remember, many devs stated that COVID brought six months - year worth of delays in production pipeline.

But I think that in second half 2023 we would not see big AAA game that would be released on Xbox One/PS4
 
As long as I can play new games on my PS4Pro i don't feel the necessity to throw 550€ for an overprieced, oversized and almost impossible to get after 2 years PS5. FFXVI was going to be my limit but with the latest announcement that the console exclusivity will last only 6 months I guess I can wait.

I will jump to "nextgen" (still nothing Nextgen looks nextgen btw) when the next FromSoft's game is released as a generation exclusive.

edit: lol I didn't remember the GoW Ragnarok ALSO released on PS4. PS5 is worthless.
 
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When people srop buying games for older hardware. Companies are in business to make money. If they can still make enough money on older hardware to justify game compatibility there then more power to them. I have no interest in seeing millions of older consoles go into a landfill just because some other guy wants more pixels on the screen.
I don't think a console needs to go to a landfill because it's no longer supported, necessarily.

But these companies do have an obligation to support the new consoles to their full extent. It's the basis for why we buy new consoles in the first place - not just more pixels, but gameplay innovation and advancements that aren't possible on the current consoles.

It's financially responsible to still sell games on old consoles, but there is a balancing act there as well. You need to support the new product you are selling fully, not just throw an occasional bone.
 
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There are countries where people are still - STILL - struggling to get a PS5. In the UK they're not hard to get and I still saw someone buying a used machine in CEX for £650 because they can't just walk into Argos and get one. The machine had it's 2nd birthday a few days ago.

Why would/should Sony want to start making games that ignore the 100m people still using a PS4? I think now that God of War is out of the way, the bulk of the cross-gen stuff is done, but anyone surprised that it's lasted so long is living in a basement. This "gen" (I still think it's a dead concept now) is going to last for quite some time. We haven't even really started to see what can be done with this hardware.
 
I deleted a post about this the other day, didn't want to be the party pooper, but these current retail videogames are still using 2013 quality like assets. There's no developer pushing the line for graphics in retail videogames at all, it's disappointing. The 360 and PS3 retail videogames lasted about 7 years until developers like Crytek pushed the graphics line with Ryse on consoles. Next year is going to be 10 years with videogames using these assets from Xbox One and PS4 spec hardware and they visually look old as fuck now.
 
Growing production costs and lengthening of development time make console generation last longer. Now, we also have economic crisis and the chip crisis etc. Hope these won't delay the PS5 Slim though and it will release normally, so 3 years after the PS5.
 
It's Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo's work to make the console good enough for users and developers. If the old consoles are still going it's simply because the new ones are not good enough, for a series of reasons.

You don't have to buy any new hardware until the benefits of doing so become extremely apparent.
 
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2 years ago.
Previous gen didn't had big first party crossgen, only some third parties and sport shit.

This was the worse type of crossgen.
 
Games are very scalable these days. There's no reason to artificially hinder ports that can easily be made.

This has always been a dumb argument.
 
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November 2020. But at the very least we're not going to see current gen stop being supported until literally halfway through the generation cycle.
 
Well, to be honest, a PS5 is also basically a PS4 since it plays all the PS4 games (lets just forget about the handful that doesn't work), so if some company wants to release a game as a PS4 version, does it really matter? I's not like you won't be able to play it on PS5.

Now, as far as AAA releases, yes, they should drop PS4 to allow the games to take full advantage of newer hardware, but when it comes to indies or other simpler kinds of games, it really doesn't matter. Because if you have a PS5, you also have a PS4 built right in.
 
I don't like an idea to play only one AAA game(or none) on launch day of my new console or several months without any new game for my next generation console.
At least I can play older generation of AAA games with improvements.
 
Whenever the older console isn't worth supporting, though I wish they would leave the store front open (Wii U, Wii, etc).

I personally don't mind cross gen games, I'm also probably on the "older" end of the spectrum here and I just don't get excited for new visuals like I did when I was younger. It's a moot point to me for the most part. Most games I play on my PS5 are retro rereleases, though having access to nex-gen exclusives is really great too.

People who get so worked up over crossgen stuff need to relax, it's really not worth getting worked up about, especially when you're gaming on a console. If you want peak visuals with everything, get a PC.
 
For first party, it should be immediately.

The second the PS5 dev kits were in the hands of first party devs, they should be mandated to never make another PS4 game again.

The way it used to be.

Let 3rd party be your old gen support for a year or 2.

After that? It's been 10 years. Move on
 
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I think (for Sony first party at least), that has mostly already happened. The games you are seeing that are still being released on PS4 are just games that were in active development before the PS5 launched. We are two years in now so any games that were in development for PS4 should be coming to an end (hopefully).
 
I would say likely 24 months after release seems fair. It would be silly for devs, or even MS and Sony, to ignore the massive install bases of last gen hardware simply because they have a new console out. Financially it makes little sense.
 
Hot take, but I like cross gen and hope they keep support for the ps4 until ps6 comes out. Then I hope they follow the same path with PS5. This would make gaming affordable for those with little money and offer a premium experience for those with extra income. It would force third party devs to be more creative with their tools and work within hardware constraints. Their focus would flip from trying to sell us a pretty trailer to making an actually good game. First party titles can still be exclusive to one console as a showcase.
 
Hot take, but I like cross gen and hope they keep support for the ps4 until ps6 comes out. Then I hope they follow the same path with PS5. This would make gaming affordable for those with little money and offer a premium experience for those with extra income. It would force third party devs to be more creative with their tools and work within hardware constraints. Their focus would flip from trying to sell us a pretty trailer to making an actually good game. First party titles can still be exclusive to one console as a showcase.
I believe if you are making a game and your vision can still happen despite it being cross-gen, then why not?
 
Until, developers stop making cross gen titles we won't see last gen finish.

If I remember correctly, towards the end of a consoles life cycle, the only games that continue to launch on those older machines are things like FIFA, CoD etc...big AAA titles that understand there is still a very large installed user base to cater to.

I predict that by this time next year we'll be at the very end of that generation as far as developers releasing on ps4 and Xbox One.
 
Should have been ended. It's one thing to support the last consoles with massive install bases, it's another thing to not have full fledged next/current gen titles to promote the new hardware and also support the dedicated consumers who have already stepped up.
 
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