This article was updated at 11.49pm BST with additional comments from EA’s earnings call
Electronic Arts has confirmed that Battlefield 6 will be released for both current and next-gen consoles.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson announced plans to release the game for PS4 and Xbox One as well as PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC during the company’s full-year earnings call on Tuesday.
“Battlefield will be available for both current-gen and next-gen as will our sports titles,” he said.
“The reference specifically from our prepared remarks,” when EA said Battlefield has been designed for next-gen platforms, “was around the nature of gameplay – what we can do with the fidelity of the game, what we can do with the physics, artificial intelligence, and the immersive nature of the game.
“And in the case of Battlefield, what we can do with respect to the amount of players that we can have in the game, and the nature of destruction and those all-new Battlefield moments that are truly next-gen opportunities that we are able to do in the context of our next-gen franchises because of the increased processing power and memory and output of the new consoles.”
Later in the call, it was put to Wilson that cross-gen releases haven’t always fared so well in the past.
“With respect to current generation versus next generation titles, or maybe we should say current generation versus past generation platform titles, this has been done exceptionally well for decades,” he responded.
“I had the great fortune of growing up in this company and building games on multiple generations, and I think when you think about our infrastructure around our Frostbite team, our digital services teams, and our game teams, you have unbelievable experience getting the very best out of the past generation consoles to ensure that even as we move to the next generation, we’re getting more and more out of the old generation platforms, and so those games are going to look great.
“When you think about new platform generations, again, with the advances that we make in Frostbite, with the advances that we make in our digital ecosystem, and with the advances that we’re making at a feature design level with the new unlocks that come from power, the games on next generation consoles are going to be extraordinary.”
EA’s chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen also said the game will be “great” on both console generations but “even more spectacular” on the newer systems.
“The game has everything fans love about Battlefield,” Wilson said. “We’re excited to reveal the game to fans next month and share a lot more over the summer.”
He also said EA had nothing to share at this time regarding potential plans to annualise the Battlefield franchise or to launch a battle royale mode when questioned on the subjects.
“Nothing to announce at the moment on either an annualised release of Battlefield and/or the nature of the modes in the upcoming game,” Wilson said. “We’re going to talk about a lot around that in the months to come, starting next month with our reveal trailer, which I had the chance of seeing a work-in-progress last week and it is incredible what the team has been able to do in the context of next generation consoles, you know epic scale battles, unbelievable player count, destruction is really incredible, and there’s some very innovative and creative modes for the future of the franchise.”
EA reiterated plans to release the new Battlefield this holiday, with the game set to arrive during its fiscal third quarter ending on December 31, 2021.