When can we expect developers to drop ps4/Xbox one support?

Games are still a bit gimped due to developing for the lowest common denominator. There will be better visual and gameplay results if games are designed exclusively for PS5/Series X. How long til we see a day like that come?

 

Same time frame as for PS3/Xbox360 and PS2/Xbox and … you know the drill once you‘ve been through at least two console cycles.

It‘s also not an on/off thing but a gradual change. It also depends on how strong the previous generation is still selling games vs how well the new generation is selling (or not). At a minimum I would say 2 years after initial launch of „next gen“ consoles before the tide turns due to the long dev cycle of games.

 

Probably no time soon.
I think when Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles, are more easily available and accepted, in alot of gamers homes, game companies will slowly start making some of their games, exclusive for those new consoles. And it might take a while, before it really starts to happen. Also, alot of gamers have Xbox Ones and PS4's, and not many have the latest PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles yet, so that is another reason, why games are being brought, to both generations of consoles.

 

It also depends on compatibility between generations.

Previously there was significant incompatibilities between hardware generations. The PS3 and PS4, for instance, had fundamentally different CPU designs, to the point that porting PS3 stuff to any other platform is a renowned pain in the backside. However, the PS5 is largely the same as the PS4, just much faster, to the point that almost all PS4 games can be played on a PS5. While it's less extreme, similar applies between Xbox 360 -> Xbox One -> Xbox Series X/S.

Essentially, while there is a significant audience with PS4s and Xbox Ones there's a lot less reason for games not to support them than there has been in the past.

On the visual side of things this certainly used to be true. I'm not convinced it's the case any more, simply because modern consoles are nowhere near as different to one another as they used to be, and new titles don't support hardware back to when they were.

As for the gameplay side of things... I'm not convinced that has been true since the PS3 / X360 days anyway. I can't think of a single gameplay mechanic which is possible now but could not possibly have been implemented somehow back on that older hardware. It would have looked terrible in comparison, but the information presented to the user and their resulting behaviour and experience could have been comparable.