BraLoD said:
Actually considering the DreamCast we have a gen with only 4 years... that's even more relevant to my argument. So no.
But comparing the consoles by company is also relevant.
XBOX to XBOX 360 also have only 4 years. And XBOX 360 to XBOX ONE have 8 years.
NES to SNES 7 years, SNES to N64 6 years, N64 to NGC 5 years, NGC to Wii 5 years, Wii to Wii U 7 years.
SMS to SMD 4 years, SMD to SS 4 years, SS to SDC 5 years.
PS1 to PS2 6 years, PS2 to PS3 6 years, PS3 to PS4 7 years.
So you can see how this last gen was atypically long.
XBOX doubled it lifetime, went from 4 to 8 years.
Sega was not present and it was ever 4 to 5 years.
PS went from two 6's to 7 years.
And Nintendo went back to 1980 numbers... but wait, "I can't use 1980s to prove what happen" so Nintendo went from to 5's fives to 7 years.
No matter how we try to see it, last gen was way longer than what the others gens where. And it's not safe to expect this again.
It had one only seven years peak back in the 80's that actually where the console that could bring the market back to life and it was expected to endure long.
Gens were ever 4 - 6 years. Now they went to 7 - 8 years.
And again, I doubt the PS4/XBO will remain relevant in the market for so long again.
Nintendo needs a new console quickly, and it will probably happen between 2016 and 2017, so again 4 - 5 years.
Microsoft is beaten by Sony so hardly with a alligned launch and losing so much marketshare that I doubt it will ever try it again, 2017 will probably see a new XBOX, so 4 years.
And Sony is the only that have no need to rush to a new gen, but with both competitors doing so, 2018 at max we may see the PS5, so 5 years.
You can even give one more year to all of them to they have more room to grow, and we will still have the normal 5 to 6 years generation.
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Nintendos last gen was only six years, which isn't that long. Yet they still sold over 100 million (even with the terribad legs it had).
As dev costs increase, developers want longer gens. That gives them the possibility to reduce dev-costs by learning the hardware really good.
Also both the PS1 and the PS2 sold more than 100 million, despite the shorter gens, so why can't the PS4?
