The Xbox One Scopio and PlayStation 4 Neo are going to have some true backwards compatibility when it comes to the generation they followed, unlike the previous generations of high-definition consoles, and lots of publishers and developers are really happy about this. One of the game companies really happy about this feature is software giant Electronic Arts.
According to EA vice president Patrick Soderlund in an interview with Game Informer, the company is completely behind the PS4 Neo and Xbox One Scorpio's compatibility with all games and peripherals from the original PS4 and Xbox One consoles—which weren't compatible with the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, respectively. Soderlund noted that console manufacturers "upgrading" their current designs hasn't been a concept in the industry since Sega and their Mega Drive.
When it came to EA's capability to support the PS4 Neo and Xbox One Scorpio's backward compatibility, Soderlund said that their Frostbite engine can more than handle it due to its scalability. The Frostbite engine is currently powering all new EA games, and makes it easier to port games to the new generation because of the consoles' "PC-like" hardware architecture.
The PS4 Neo and Xbox One Scorpio's full capabilities, such as 4K video resolution and better processing power, also create new possibilities for game developers, said Soderlund. It will be up to them to decide how to harness these new powers, especially given what's sure to be rising development costs for these next-generation games, but it will be worth it.
The Xbox One Scorpio is set to release later this year, while little about the PS4 Neo is revealed as of now. It's likely the PS4 Neo will be dropping sometime next year, and we'll update you with more information as we get it.
