According to Hines, ”I don’t think the current generation of consoles are holding us back. There is still plenty that we are able to do visually, technically and from a story-telling standpoint. And there’s this huge built-in audience now.”
He went on to discuss the issues with the arrival of a new console, partly due to tech and partly due to the fact there’s a smaller install base. Then there’s the problem of trying to predict what gamers will be into 18 months down the line.
”For me the problems with new consoles are two-fold,” Hines explained, “The developers are trying to hit a moving technical target, because the platforms are being built. A new console doesn’t just show up a year before launch and is exactly what it will be when it comes out. It moves and iterates along the way. And introducing something like that to games that are in development is always a bit tricky. And that is obviously an element of risk.”
He then added, ”The second point is that your install base always starts at zero,” he went on. “Then it comes out and suddenly a certain number of people buy it but it won’t be the same number as the current gen. So you have divided your audience.
“It’s then a case of: are we just making it for the next gen? Or next gen and current gen? And how many people from the current gen that I’m targeting have moved over to the next gen? It does complicate things a little bit. Obviously the changes they are going to make technologically, in terms of the things we will be able to do, are exciting. But it comes at a price.”
The next generation consoles are believed to be hitting retail in Holiday 2013, though industry analyst Michael Pachter has expressed his belief that the next-gen Microsoft console will be bumped to 2014.
