As we near the release of the Xbox One and PS4 I have been thinking a lot about next gen. I just can't seem to get away from it. From Giantbomb, to Gamespot, IGN to Kotaku and others are all furiously pushing out new stories and articles about Next Gen. It seems the only gaming related thing getting more coverage these days is Call Of Duty: Ghosts. So maybe its not too surprising then, that I found my self thinking about this question:

How long till Call of Duty is ONLY on Next Gen consoles?

You would be hard pressed to find a series that is as popular and mainstream as Call of Duty. Many seem to hate the games, but even more seem to LOVE the games. As such its a sure bet that Ghosts will do very well when it comes to sales. But how many people will be buying a next gen console and Ghosts this year? What about next year with the next Call of Duty title? The next year? After that?

If you want to know how well the next gen consoles are doing, how confident publishers are in these new machines I think you should watch Call of Duty. Sure many games over the next year or two will see release on next gen, but they will see release on current gen as well. Call of Duty will be no different. I fully expect next year's entry in the CoD series to see release on Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as next gen. But what about 2 years from now...3...4? Will Call of Duty still be as popular then? Maybe..who knows.

If the series stays at least as popular as it is now, then it becomes a good way to tell how well these new boxes are doing. When will Activision decided to leave current gen behind? Remember that "Call of Duty: World at War" was released in Nov. 2008 for PS2. That 7 months after GTA IV saw release on Xbox 360, PS3. I have feeling that Call of Duty will stay at home on current gen consoles for just as long. But...probably longer.

The amount of Xbox 360 owners alone would justify Activision releasing a current gen version, then throw on PS3, and even WiiU. That is a lot of potential buyers.

I guess its not just Call of Duty. When will get the first Next Gen only Madden. (That didn't happen until Madden 2013) Or the first next gen only Assassin's Creed? Or the first next gen only FIFA (That STILL hasn't happened, FIFA is being released on PS2 this year)

This may seem like a weird or worthless question, but I think its actually interesting to look back at how fast or slow franchises jump to the next generation consoles. This generation has lasted for a LONG time, and with areas like South America these consoles are becoming popular as the price goes down. Could we see Call of Duty in 2018 still be released for Xbox 360 and PS3? What do you think? Should we start a betting pool?

Also, will FIFA see release on PS2 in 2018. I really hope so. That would be really dumb and cool.