MortienGerrux said:
They did a lot of damage by dragging those ancient consoles until 2013, they should have released a generation in 2009 and then another in 2013. So every 4 years.
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If you think about it from the perspective of the manufacturers, with the sole exception of Nintendo, it was necessary.
MS and Sony took way too big a hit on hardware during the first 1-2 years compounded by slow first years by both the XB360 and the PS3. With MS, the problem in retrospect appeared to have been more of an issue of OEM parts supply channels and production problems, but the PS3 was clearly hobbled in sales by the high price/value perception. It took the better part of three years for the PS3 to hit its stride software wise and elmininate losses per hardware unit.
They simply spent too much trying to produce competitve hardware that could use specs as a marketing bullet at a time when technology at the cost of production still couldn't deliver basic 1920x1080p at 30-60fps in most instances.
Nintendo, of all companies, is the one that should have released an 8th generation console in 2010 (not 2009 as it debuted in 2006; only the XB360 debuted in 2005). Pachter may not get a lot of things right, but I'm willing to give him that one. Nintendo was making a per unit profit on the Wii from debut. It was originally developed to be a $99 MSRP console. Of course the real reason why Nintendo didn't replace the Wii in 2010 is because the platform was hugely profitable, it had a massive install base and Nintendo is notoriously conservative when it comes to the business side of things and a company doesn't kill the golden egg laying goose prematurely if they want to ride out their success.
The only way we'll see new consoles every 4 years (new platforms rather than incremental updates like the New 3DS or the PS4K) is if manufacturers switch to a smartphone business model in terms of incremental advances in hardware.
The thing is, consoles may be moving in that direction with the use of SoC type processors and a more PC style architecture that is more similar to PCs than ever before. If this is the new trend, then it is very possible to see a new PS or XB every 4-5 years although the performance jumps will be more incremental as they will be dependent upon what a $400 MSRP can buy in OEM components/specs while being sold near cost (slight profit per unit or slight loss) rather than spending massive amounts on R&D to create chipsets and hardware architecture that no one else uses.
