EA Says 'Next-Gen' Is 'Now-Gen'

Via GamesRadar, a Reuters report noting that the 'next generation' consoles are now more-or-less broken in. Sales for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii have transitioned to the point where software sales are going to be well worth the effort for development houses. "'[Black] Friday marked one of those points where you can say something's changed," [EA CEO Riccitiello] said. 'Around the world, based on the data I've got, it was pretty clear that the transition is now over. Key to that was Sony Corp's recent price cut for its PlayStation 3, which should ensure the struggling console hits the company's fiscal-year sales target of 11 million units.'"

Really?

[coppro]

And so the number of sales is indicative how? I'd say that when you've got three consoles that were sold out immediately after release, you've made the transition. The market may not have been able to accomodate the demand, but three consecutive sell-outs - especially when followed continuously by extremely strong sales for the Wii and 360 - indicates that the transition to next-gen has been made. I mean, two years to decide that developing for the 360 is a good idea?

Re:Really?

[Orange Crush]

I mean, two years to decide that developing for the 360 is a good idea?

Around 120 million PS2s have been shipped to date. That's ~80 million more PS2s than all three next gen consoles combined. Granted many will have broken/been discarded/packed away/etc, but that still leaves a helluvalot of working PS2s out there. EA's mission is to sell games and customers don't typically buy games for systems they don't have.

What they're saying is that the new consoles finally have reached a total installed base large enough for EA to be comfortable devoting more resources to those platforms and moving away from the PS2.

Xbox media center?

[DingerX]

Microsoft should be including a HDDVD-Rom capable drive in the mid and high end versions, it would be cheaper than that damned external $200 dollar optional 'player' and it would turn the box into the media center that Microsoft so desperately desires.

Who told you that Microsoft "desperately desires" to turn the box into a media center? I'm sure some people at MS do, but others are probably saying "if it's too good, it will cut into our Vista Media Center Edition market segment."

That's unfortunate.

[Seumas]

So what we have now is as good as it is going to get for the next five to ten years? That's unfortunate. That's where the PC gaming will always be superior. PCs were already outperforming consoles by the time the newest gen of consoles were released. And while my console systems will be performing about the same in five or ten years as they were last year, my PC will be performing perhaps twice as well next year as it is this year.

Console gaming companies need to come out with a different model. These are videogame systems; not car stereos toasters. Perhaps they need to introduce some sort of leasing model where gamers lease the consoles and then they come out with a more advanced console (or upgrade the current ones) after a year or two. It obviously isn't reasonable to release a $500 console every other year because gamers won't spend $500 every year (per gaming system) just for the hardware.

I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that a gaming system that provides essentially the same experience and quality is sufficient for five or ten years. I mean, think about it -- would you want to have been gaming in 2000 on a rig that was built in 1995 or even 1990?!

Re:That's unfortunate.

[Anonymous Coward]

With the console, you just put the disc in, turn it on, and play. Every time a new console comes out, this is disrupted. Therefore, you don't want this to happen often. This is the advantage consoles have over computers. You have to upgrade your computer continuously to play the newest games. My console will let me play the newest games for years to come. Meanwhile, since I'm not using my computer for gaming, it has gone 5 or 6 years without a hardware upgrade. Why upgrade when it runs all of the programs I'm interested in with no trouble?

There's nothing inherently wrong with old hardware. You just want new for the sake of new. That's fine, but other people may care more about functionality than being cutting-edge.

Re:Translation:

[Diss Champ]

The problem with the PS3 WAS the price tag. Considering that they are now cheaper than the going ebay cost of a Wii the verb tense is important there.

Re:Yeah, keep trying Sony

[The PS3 Will Fail]

"You missed the part where several major retailers including EB/gamestop re-affirmed the ~33% stat."

How could I have missed "the part" when you did not mention EB/Gamestop in your original post? Also - you'll need to cite a statistically valid study that shows 33%, not some manager from an EB. I'll also thank you very much for losing the fucking tone with me. Seriously - I missed the part of your post where you mentioned EB/Gamestop? I'm still missing it because it's not fucking there asshole.

But honestly, and here's where you really failed - my point was that your anecdotal evidence has no fucking place in any discussion. The fact that you said "informally" only underlines the fact that you already understood that your anecdotal evidence was completely fucking worthless but still chose to bring it up. That means you're not a moron but instead, just an asshole. Too bad, I would have liked you better if you were a moron. Now fuck off and die, asshole.

Crippling price-point

[Tony]

The $280 Xbox 360 is so badly crippled it might as well not exist.

Actually, it's a shame it *does* exist.

Game developers have to target the *lowest common denominator.* That means they have to target the non-HDD 360. That meanst they can't count on streaming game data, or anything else. So, the non-HDD version not only is crippled itself, but it cripples the potential of the games themselves.

Same thing with the lack of HD-DVD. Game data is at the point where it fills a DVD to capacity. Game developers have to over-compress textures, reduce level complexity, reduce the amount of cinematic content, and whatnot. (Yes, this is already happening. Check out comments by some of the Unreal Tournament 3 devs.)

I think this is the 360's biggest weakness. It gives Microsoft an early advantage, but as you pointed out, the price advantage is essentially gone. Now we'll see if the early lead is enough to overcome the technical deficiencies in their most-crippled console.