| Mr.Playstation said: While this generation is anticipated as being a short one, I think there are various reasons as to why this generation could be as long if not longer than the last one.
So far Sony is killing it and we can almost assume that they've reached a 50% market share by now. Now we all know Sony has a sort of guarantee that they'll support a console for 10 years, and financially it would make sense for them to do that, this generation seeing as how the PS4 is a somewhat mini PS2 and killing it of early wouldn't make sense as they're not gurenteed that the PS5 will bring in as much revenue.
Microsoft has no reason to abandon this generation while the PS4 is still Sony's main console. Why should they? Their doing fine as is, sure they may have an upper hand but considering the gaming division isn't Microsoft's main business focus, I'm sure they are more than happy with what they have and at the end of the day why risk producing a new console when the PS4 may still take some of it's sales and then to only have Sony release a new console which just might reduce it's sales even more.
Looking at Nintendo, I highly doubt their next console will be stronger than the PS4 and Xbox One and so I think that while it will be considered as a ninth generation console it will more than likely compete directly for most of it's life cycle with eight gen consoles and so eight generation ( 2 vs 1 ) will remain as the main console generation.
Discuss |
. Do you think this generation will end quickly or will it live a long and fruitful life?Well regarding each console manufacturer:
Sony: Even when PS2 was killing it sony didn't rest on their laurels and released the PS3 as soon as it was viable. It was schedule for june 2006 before they got delayed due to manufacturing problems, if they could have they would have launched it even sooner probably. Across the board of technology history has shown that Victors are never complacent with current success. Just as the PS2 continued to sell well in 2006 and 2007, the PS4 could do so after the arrival of PS5. The arrival of one gen doesn't mean the death of the other. We've seen how unified game development has become so PS5 would not represent a new hurdle for devs, they'd just release their already planned games but at sueperior settings.
Microsoft: They have everything to gain by arriving ahead of the PS5 and just as the 360 arriving before the PS3 gave them a helpful headstart and allowed them to court a new audience whilst the PS3 was only just finding its feet. Its now understood that the Xbox brand is inferior to the Playstation brand globally, so MS have nothing to gain by going head to head with sony. IMO they either need to arrive ahead of them of differentiate themselves through power or a USP, just as the OG Xbox and 360 did.
Nintendo: I actually think everything points to a console being stronger then the PS4/X1. Whether its just 2x as strong or 4x is the question. The only time Nintendo abandoned decent specs was then they had the major USP of the Wii mote or when they bundled the expensive gamepad. Neither is likely to be the case with their next gen (A very Unique USP or an expensive accessory). On top of that there was undoubtably some arrogance with the creation of the Wii U, they presumed the Wii audience would just upgrade. Now they've woken up to reality they will likely provide a low risk, mid range console by 2016/2017 standards and that would will likely look like a PS4.5. (remember PS4 launched in 2013 and was profitable almost right away). The way this ties into the convo is that I think Nintendo would gain unwanted momentum if MS and Sony refused to release a new system til 2019, if they have a system out before then with superior quality third party titles I could see a lot of "hardcore gamers" leaving the PS4 early. Not the masses who buy COD, but the informed gamers who probably have an appreciation for Nintendo 1st party. Not an immense pressure on sony and MS but something that they certainly wouldn't want.
