New Call of Duty to be Half Game on Legacy Consoles
posted Saturday Sep 26, 2015 by Scott Ertz
It was a shock to many of us when Activision announced support for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in their upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops III. It seemed likely that the end of AAA titles on legacy hardware was a thing of the past, yet here we had Activision promising a flagship product still in development for older hardware. There was always a catch coming, though, we just didn't know what it might be.
This week Activision let the air out of the sails of many people who have yet to upgrade their hardware: the title will be only half of the full game on legacy hardware. In fact, the game itself will be missing; there will be absolutely no campaign mode when played on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Instead, players will only have access to multiplayer and zombie survival mode.
Obviously, since the title will be limited in capability as well as graphics and power, the title will not sell for full retail on the older consoles. Unfortunately, the game will only be discounted by $10 for the lack of content and capability. That is certain to get owners of last generation consoles to really think about their decision to purchase the title. It is also possible that this is the game that will finally drive these gamers to upgrade their hardware.
It is also likely that, since this game is not capable of running on older hardware, it is the end of new games coming out on the 360 or PlayStation 3. We will likely only see next year's entry in franchise, as well as other high-profile games from Activision, bypass the last generation and only support current generation hardware: Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Is Call of Duty: Black Ops III enough to get you to upgrade from your older console to current generation gaming? Will bundles possibly play into your decision? Let us know in the comments.
