Early PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game review scores will inevitably be lower as publishers must also accommodate the limitations of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hardware, says Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key.

Speaking with GamesIndustry, Key said the same game can’t be so different across generations that it requires alternate marketing materials.

“Right now, all publishers are transitioning their development resources. For a game like Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, most of the sales are still going to be on current generation platforms. We can’t make a version for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One that’s so wildly different that we can’t market them together,” Key said.

“So, for now, developers and designers are focused on making a game that works really well on all of the systems – but as we transition resources to the next gen, it’s going to be more difficult to do that because the power of these machines is going to allow so much more creativity.”

“Our feeling is the installed base of these machines will be much faster to take hold than previous generations. In the first couple of years, we expect double the installed based of previous generations,” he said.