Buy Battlefield 4 Now, Upgrade to Xbox One, PS4 for $10

It looks like the battle for next-gen shooter supremacy has some pretty close ties to the current-gen Xbox 360 and PS3. Electronic Arts today confirmed that anyone who who wants to buy Battlefield 4 for Xbox 360 or PS3 upon the game’s Oct. 29 launch will be able to “upgrade” to the Xbox One or PS4 version for $10.

EA’s announcement comes just six weeks after Activision announced that gamers who purchase Call of Duty: Ghosts for PS3 will be able to upgrade to the PS4 version for (amazingly) $10. Activision’s upgrade promotion runs for “a limited time” but did not specify how long it would last. EA, on the other hand, gave a firm deadline: current-gen copies of Battlefield 4 can be “upgraded” to Xbox One or PS4 versions until March 24, 2014 (PlayStation) or December 31, 2013 (Xbox).

Sony is clearly putting some marketing co-op dollars into the pot to get EA to extend the PS4 offer an additional three months longer than the Xbox One offer.

You won’t have to worry about your stats if you buy Battlefield 4 on the current-gen systems. EA confirmed that BF4 players will be able to “carry forward your multiplayer stats and your Battlefield 4 Premium membership. … Your rank, score, K/D ratio, wins, time played, service stars, dog tags taken, vehicles destroyed, repairs, revives, squad score, accuracy and more will all transfer to next-gen consoles at launch.”

Gamers will first be able to buy Battlefield 4 on October 29, when it ships for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The next-gen opportunity to buy Battlefield 4 comes shortly thereafter: it will ship for PS4 on Nov. 12 in North America (Nov. 29 in Europe) and on Xbox One starting Nov. 19 in North America (Nov. 22 in Europe).