why exactly do people think long consoles life's hurt the industry?

[Zappykins]

gergroy said:
The reason why a long generation can hurt the industry has to do with the library of the consoles. The longer a console is on the market, the bigger library it develops. These game developers keep pumping out games, but the more games that are out the more choices the consumer has and the less likely their games can sell as well.

It is great for gamers, but for developers that need their games to crack almost a million to make a profit, it makes it much harder. The big AAA games don't have a problem, but some of the smaller games start getting lost in the shuffle.

I mean, look at Sony's exclusives this year. If they had been launched on a newer console with a more limited library, they probably would have sold a lot better, especially playstation all stars. Still not sure why Sony didn't wait until their next system launch to bring out that IP...

That is a really good point!  It's like today if you write a play - you are still competing with Shakespear. 

Plus there is that 'shiny newness' that excietes consumer with a new console launch.  And people want to collect new games for their system.

But also consumers have more money for games, if they aren't having to shell out the money for a new console.  So I can see it going both ways, but self competing with older and used games, I can see being a major problem for developers.

Why buy Black Ops 2 new, when I can get Modern Warefare 3 AND Black Ops (original) for about the same price used.