Next-gen talk is expected to explode throughout the year as speculation mounts on what Sony and Microsoft have planned for their next outings. There's all sorts of expectations for the next gen consoles and one analyst from Baird Equity Research believes that the consoles will make an appearance at this year's E3 and will have a lot of off-the-shelf, high-end PC components at a $400 price point.
GameIndustry.biz talked with analyst Colin Sebastian at this year's CES, who stated...
"Given the fragile state of the console game market, we expect the E3 trade show in June will take on added significance, most likely providing the industry with the first public opportunity to examine next-generation hardware,""Moreover, a PC-based architecture (Intel chips in the case of Xbox) should have a number of advantages over custom-developed silicon: for one, the learning curve for software developers will be shorter than completely new technology. Second, the cost of production and retail price points should be lower than prior console launches. “
Sebastian also believes that there will be broader appeal to varying times of gamers in the economic space where free-to-play and over-the-shelf will both have a strong presence, making it easier for gamers to purchase cash shop items for free-to-play titles or buy an entry-priced retail product that has some content available piecemeal.
Colin also had some not-so-kind words to share about Nintendo, saying that if they don't unleash some major first-party blockbusters like Zelda and Mario, they could be in a world of serious trouble...sort of like all that doom talk during the launch of the original Wii. I've come to terms of realizing that the Big 'N' doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else and they seem to dictate their own pace (and success) so I'll just reserve my own judgment until the end of 2013.
As for the rest of the market, Sebastian stated that...
"We expect that 2013 will also be remembered as the year that tablet games go mainstream,"
Ahahaha, really? Wasn't that supposed to be 2012? And 2011 before it?
I should go into cryo-sleep until 2014 and then have someone wake me so I can read more analytical forecasts about the gaming industry and I would bet my last dollar that someone will say “2015 is the year mobile, social and tablet games rule the market”.
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