14 DAY TRIAL // The creator of such well-known franchises as God of War and Twisted Metal believes that home consoles have at the most another 10 years to live and that the next generation coming from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will be the last one for players to anticipate and then enjoy.
David Jaffe, who is currently the leader of Eat Sleep Play and has also worked directly for Sony, has told Games Industry that, “Look, consoles are going away. I think in 10 years – probably sooner, but 10 years is always the safe thing to say so you don’t sound like an idiot – but here’s what I’ll say: I’ll go on the record and say that the next generation of hardware will be the last consoles. And they should be.”
The designer believes that, even if gaming consoles disappear, players will be able to use devices in their living room to play, with televisions that stream content becoming a party of the game ecosystem and with Sony and other publishers becoming more like movies studios in the way they are conducting business.
Jaffe also talked about the first launch of the next generation of consoles, adding, “I don’t see the Wii U and say ‘oh my God I have to have that.’ … it’s not like I’m knocking it but I would say that I wasn’t blown away by any individual piece of software that was exclusive to Wii U.”
The developer believes that the Wii U will not be able to outsell its Nintendo predecessor, but he also emphasizes that he has a track record that does not serve him well when it comes to predictions, having thought that the PSP would manage to outsell the DS family.
Sony and Microsoft are said to officially announce their next devices during this year, with launch coming in 2013.