Robbie Says No On New Xbox
The average lifespan of a console is around 4 years. Not the actual working run-time of the machine, mind you, but this is the total time it will spend as being the active push of a company. We're approaching that amount of time for nearly all the consoles on the market right now, especially the Xbox 360.
So, where are the teaser shots? The mock ups? The banana shaped boomerang controllers? Well, for us Microsoft fans it is a ways off. In an interview with Mercury News, Robbie Bach pretty much stamped out my hopes for a new console any time soon:
"Just coming up with something that's faster and prettier isn't going to be sufficient," said Bach, 47. "The life cycle for this generation of consoles -- and I'm not just talking about Xbox, I'd include Wii and PS3 as well -- is probably going to be a little longer than previous generations.
I'm more or less translating this to "we're going to ride this old pony until the economy picks up". Then they are going to pull an "Ole Yeller". You all know what I'm talking about.
[via Kotaku]
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 12 January 2009
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: hardware upgrades, no new consoles, robbie bach, xbox 360
I don't think that the "4 year" estimate on console lifetime is accurate. Out of the competitors on the market, only Microsoft has spaced a console generation out less than five years apart before, and it has only had one chance to do so. Let's not forget that the 360 is only the second generation for MS.
5 years is "average" considering the track record of the three competitors and 6 years is not atypical. They are no doubt well on their way to having firm plans for the next generation, but neither news of a new system nor the physical release constitutes a deadline for sales on the previous generation.
I would not be surprised to see rumblings of the next generation sometime in 2009, but don't expect consumers to be receptive. All three systems had a very week first year, YES EVEN XBOX. I would be less surprised to hear nothing official until 2010, and probably late that year. More than likely the physical release of the next generation won't happen until 2011. Half-baked upgrades like DS->DSi don't count. I have no doubt Nintento has something in the works for Wii along those lines later this year or early 2010.
The general consumer base is perfectly happy with the existing level of technology in gaming. I would speculate that even most serious gamers would expect to see a lot more games for the current generation before they are ready to start thinking about putting money down for the next generation. If this last generation of games has taught us anything, it is that there is a diminishing return on improved gaming technology and as games become more main-stream, the threshold is growing bigger.
I don't think so...they just put alot of time and deals into new things for their current gen...and the Graphics on the machine are still as good as ever, if not better.
I think rather than try and get their customers to pay more money and make them invest in a new system, they're going to make their current one the best they can and fix all the bugs they had before with the system.
They're giving their customers what they want and paid for, and more!
I don't know why you would want a new console already.
I'm still perfectly happy with the ones I got thank you.
Besides, if you look at how the PS2 is still doing well with P3 and P4 amongst others, it should send a clear message that gamers want good games, not necesairilly the next big graphic or performance update.