While the PS4 and Xbox One are battling for supremacy, last-gen consoles are still good

Jan 18, 2014 20:31 GMT  ·  By

Last year saw the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next-gen home consoles, as Sony and Microsoft, respectively, finally managed to launch successors to their current-generation devices – the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

While some analysts quickly believed that millions of gamers would either resell their current platforms or trade them in for credit towards the next ones, that hasn't exactly happened, as quite a few of them realized that there's still life in the old boxes.

Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 are still relevant to gaming, even if their hardware is almost ancient in terms of power or efficiency, largely because there are around 160 million such consoles around the world, meaning it's a market so huge you can't afford to ignore.

While quite a lot of video game developers and publishers are starting to shift focus towards the PS4 and Xbox One, which have sold around 7 million units in total, they are still treating current-gen gamers with quite a lot of great deals and experiences.

For example, Bethesda and 2K Games partnered up to release two special bundles next month, containing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and BioShock Infinite, as well as Borderlands 2 and Dishonored.

Meanwhile, quite a lot of big games, including GTA 5, are still available only on the two devices, meaning those who enjoy them and their online modes will have to keep their PS3 or Xbox 360.

Gamers who invested in downloadable games via the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Arcade will also need to keep their consoles if they want to actually experience them, as neither the PS4 nor the Xbox One is backwards-compatible.

As such, while the next-gen consoles are certainly attractive to quite a few gamers worldwide, it's probably for the best to keep your current PS3 or Xbox 360 and enjoy them at least until they break down.