Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, NCAA Football 14 and NHL 14 won't be released on next-generation consoles this year, Electronic Arts representatives confirmed to Polygon this week.
EA announced earlier this week that four of its upcoming sports titles Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, NBA Live 14 and EA Sports UFC will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One within the next 12 months. All of them will be powered by the same engine: EA Sports Ignite, the single technology base for all of EA's sports games on next-generation consoles.
But when Andrew Wilson, executive vice president of EA Sports, unveiled the engine with pre-rendered target footage during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event on Tuesday, he only listed those four games. EA has three other annual sports titles: Tiger Woods PGA Tour, which launches at the end of March; NCAA Football, which launches in July; and NHL, which launches in September.
"In regards to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, we already launched on the platforms we will support for that title," said a spokesperson for developer EA Tiburon; PGA Tour 14 was released in March on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A separate Tiburon rep told us that NCAA Football 14 will be released only on the platforms EA has announced, PS3 and Xbox 360; it is scheduled to launch July 9.
Asked about NHL 14, an EA Canada spokesperson said, "Our team is laser-focused on delivering the greatest hockey experience to date on the Xbox 360 and PS3, grounded in the speed, skill and aggression of the sport. We look forward to developing a best-in-class hockey experience for next-gen platforms in the future." NHL 14 is set for release Sept. 10 on Xbox 360 and PS3.
The next-generation launch strategy seems to make sense for EA. Madden and FIFA are perennially EA's biggest sellers, while the publisher is attempting to resurrect a dormant franchise in NBA Live and launch a new one in UFC.
NBA Live, in particular, has a tough road ahead on current-generation platforms because 2K Sports' NBA 2K franchise has become entrenched as the only simulation basketball title for the past three years. Ignite could help the brand make a splash in the early days of the next-generation consoles, both of which are scheduled to launch later this year. UFC has no competition, but its release is far enough in the future EA said earlier this month that it doesn't plan to launch the game before April that the next generation will be well under way.
