Chris Morris, from Forbes.com, recently posted an article saying that it is “insanely early to start thinking about the next generation of videogame systems.” News was darting around the E3 floor about the next iteration of consoles from the Big 3.
But the industry big wigs have been quick to squash any rumours that the next batch of consoles will be coming any times soon. Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, stated that “new systems will not hit shelves until somewhere between 2012 and 2018.” Brian Farrell, CEO of THQ, agrees. He said, “One of the things I like about this generation is we are still very early and there’s still a lot of room for growth … as we move down those price curves. Those engines have a lot of steam left in them. We think it could be seven or eight years before new machines start to roll out.”
This doesn’t mean that new consoles are in the works. Saturo Iwata, President of Nintendo, said, “We are always preparing for the next hardware. We are under development.” However, Iwata predicts that the consumer will be wanting another revolutionary change with their next console, “It’s natural for the current customer to expect Nintendo is going to once again do something different. If the people are expecting so many different things from Nintendo, it’s going to be difficult for us to go beyond that expectation again.”
What do you think about whether or not the current consoles have enough steam to last them until 2018? Leave your comments below.
