The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both launching this holiday season, but you won't necessarily need them to play the hottest upcoming games. At least that will be the case with mega-publisher Square Enix, who have vowed to release games for both current and next-gen consoles for the foreseeable future.
In a Q&A shared from the company's recent investor call (via Windows Central), Square Enix addressed its plans for developing games for the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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"The next-generation consoles will have backward compatibility, so we plan for the time being to make our new titles available for both current and next-generation consoles," said Square Enix president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda in the Q&A. "It will therefore be somewhat farther down the road that we release titles exclusively for the next-generation consoles."
Square Enix's plans line up with how other developers seem to be approaching the PS5 and Xbox Series X generation.
The company's upcoming third-person shooter Outriders had already been confirmed for both generations of consoles, and Ubisoft seems to be taking a similar strategy with its upcoming titles such as Gods and Monsters and Watch Dogs: Legion. We also know that this fall's highly anticipated Halo: Infinite will be available on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
What's unclear is whether or not Square Enix will support Xbox's newly announced Smart Delivery feature, which will allow you to buy an Xbox One game and automatically enjoy the enhanced Xbox Series X version at no additional cost. This feature is currently confirmed for all upcoming Xbox Game Studios titles, as well as CD Projekt Red's upcoming Cyberpunk 2077.
Square Enix's next big releases are the Final Fantasy VIII Remake, which is due out April 10, and Marvel's Avengers, which is releasing September 4. Both games are currently confirmed for current-gen consoles only.
We already know that the PS5 and Xbox Series X are both backwards compatible with current-gen games, but it remains to be seen whether select publishers will release distinct next-gen versions of certain titles that you'll need to buy to enjoy enhanced performance and features.
While the PS5 and Xbox Series X will offer killer features such as ray tracing, near-instant SSD load times and support for 8K visuals, it appears that you'll be able to get plenty of juice out of your PS4 and Xbox One for at least the next year or so. And with current-gen consoles going for cheaper than ever these days, that's not a bad thing.
