Though many industry developers and retailers are offering various upgrade programs in the lead up to the next generation of consoles, one crucial factor that may be lost in translation is single-player save files. In an interview with Kotaku, representatives for Activision, EA and Ubisoft revealed that solo progress on cross-gen titles such as Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag won’t make the leap to either Xbox One or PlayStation 4 this fall.
Despite the campaign progress being left behind, developers assured that server-based multiplayer progress will in fact endure the console transition. Moreover, Microsoft and Sony have partnered with a select number of retailers to offer consumers an upgrade program that allows them to trade in the Xbox 360 or PS3 version of titles such as Battlefield 4 for a next-gen copy for around $10.
In the case of Battlefield 4, consumers who pick up a copy of EA’s first-person shooter will find a one-time use code in their retail box to use via digital outlets – namely Sony’s PlayStation Network and Xbox’s Games Store – to redeem their next-gen copies. Nevertheless, while Battlefield 4’s single-player campaign may not be its main draw, any single player progress will be redundant in the shift to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
While this hasn’t been confirmed by all developers, given that the two aforementioned studios are among the most prominent in the industry, the prospect of transferring saved files for other cross-gen titles such as Watch Dogs seems unlikely; though Ubisoft neither confirmed nor denied the possibility. What’s interesting, though, is that the studio has stated that pre-order figures for their two forthcoming cross-gen titles – namely Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch Dogs – are higher for next-gen consoles than PS3 and Xbox 360.
Ultimately, throughout the last seven generations of consoles, there has never been a feature that allows saves to carry over onto new hardware. With that said, given the length of campaigns in titles such as, say, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the prospect of starting from scratch is less than appealing.
What do you think, though? Did you anticipate that this would be the case for Activison and EA’s cross-gen library? Or are you disappointed that any single-player progression will be lost? Let us know below.
