We already heard earlier from Sony’s UK chief that the PlayStation 4 will probably not enjoy the kind of longevity of its 7-year-old predecessor, with Fergal Gara noting that the changing ways in which consumers are accessing games and gaming services will dramatically shorten cycles . This is contrary to Microsoft, which believes the Xbox One will last out a decade, but EA Studios executive VP Patrick Söderlund has waded into the argument by suggesting that he expects both the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to remain flagship for five to six years.
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 arrived a lot sooner from their respective predecessors than the latest two consoles, but Söderlund expects the five to six year service to be resumed next time around. The PlayStation 3 is fairly antiquated at seven years old, and it’s fairly difficult to believe that the Xbox 360 is now over eight years old, but the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Two should, according to this publishing exec, hit the scene a lot sooner. Speaking with MCV, he noted:
This console cycle may have gone on a little bit longer than I would have wanted…. a five, six year gap is what I expect going forward.
Söderlund did also stress, however, that the extended lifespan of the PS3 and Xbox 360 has allowed certain titles to flourish even in the latter stages, with the likes of Rockstar’s record-shattering Grand Theft Auto 5 being a prime example. This is something which couldn’t have been possible if the title was solely released on the PS4 or Xbox One alone.
The PlayStation 4 launched in the United States one week before the Xbox One, on November 15th, while the Redmond-made machine dropped last Friday 22nd. The Xbox One also hit the market in the UK on the 22nd, but in a rather ironic twist, the PlayStation 4 lags behind the Xbox One by a week, meaning British PS4 fans are waiting for the launch in the next couple of hours.
Would a shorter lifespan be better for gamers? Well, from a hardware point of view, ardent gaming fans would offer a resounding ‘yes’, but one has to wonder – given how hard both Microsoft and Sony are working to promote their consoles as all-round entertainment packages – whether this will indeed be the case.
(Source: MCV)
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