We know that the current generation of gaming consoles is set to follow up with the next generation, featuring behemoths such as Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. Despite what certain analysts are saying, the gaming industry is confident that this is certainly not the end of the road, and there’s more consoles to come.
Recently, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot was interviewed by CVG where he simplified about the next generation of console gaming and also about what lies in the future for the upcoming generations of consoles. To begin with, Guillemot doesn't think the release of Xbox One and PS4 will mark the last generation of home consoles.
"I still think it is not the last generation, because the manufacturers want a way to control their platform and the machine is the best way to have a specific access to that," Guillemot stated. "What I’m happy with is, because we’ve been waiting for a long time, if we really come with high quality games then the public will come very quickly to buy them. So we will see a big increase in the market.”
“I think that the cloud is going to change a few things. Now with cloud and the increase of bandwidth we should have the possibility to increase the quality of games a lot over the next few years. But I think five years is the right timing for it. If we can take advantage of the quality those machines bring, and if we can spend money, then I think we can make the business grow very fast.”
While this certainly seems like an interesting topic to take into account, nothing can be confirmed about the future as even the next generation is yet to start. Only the next generation of console gaming can pave the path for the future, the likes of which we will get to see at the later part of this year.
On the contrary, Red Barrels’ co-founder Philippe Morin, while sharing his thoughts on next generation consoles and its influence on both indie games and AAA titles, stated that consoles are no longer at the center of the industry.
“What we’ve seen in recent years is a democratization of the market. There is a wider variety of games. A mobile game can be as successful as a big blockbuster. The movie industry has been like this for a long time, think about The Blair Witch Project, but new platforms and the rise of the downloadable games has transformed the industry,” Morin told Gamingbolt.
“I don’t feel like consoles are the center of the gaming industry anymore. They don’t have has much influence as they used to. Certainly more powerful hardware will help make spectacular games and online stores will help indie games reach the console market, but I doubt the next generation of consoles will create a revolution. And it’s not necessarily a problem. Books have been around for a long time and people are still writing them and reading them,” he added.
Both PS4 and Xbox One are set for a release later this year.