During an investor call about Electronic Arts Q3 financials, CEO John Riccitiello said that Nintendo's Wii U is not the beginning of the next generation and hints that he has seen the next gen of gaming platforms.
According to a report from The Verge, Riccitiello said, "As you might well expect," said Riccitiello, we know more about the roadmap, and more about what's coming in consumer electronics, in terms of the specifics of devices that will play games, than you might otherwise be exposed to."
He said that you could never count Nintendo out, but that he doesn't consider the Wii U as a next generation gaming platform.
"Ours is an industry where a lot of devices come in and represent themselves as the next generation, or the next generation after that," Riccitiello said. "In many ways we would argue that what we're describing as 'Gen 4' is yet to come. It's that that we're excited about, and that's what we're investing in."
The EA CEO also addressed Valve's Steam Box and said that he really doesn't know too much about the gaming platform, but said he is a fan of Valve's Gabe Newell.
"I am squarely in the Gabe Newell fan club," Riccitiello said, before stating that Valve "really hasn't put enough information out there to suggest whether or not they've got the wherewithal to compete in console."
"Based on what they've said so far it could be anything from a cool niche product that appeals to, you know, Gabe and his friends and people like me, to a product that actually has the shoulders to help move our industry forward into what we're describing as 'gen 4,'" he explained.
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