Current gen 'has been way too long,' says Square
- Posted July 10th, 2012 at 06:02 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 20 Comments
Julien Merceron, technology director at Square Enix, has stated his belief that developers are growing tired of the current generation of home consoles, and as such are turning their attention elsewhere.
Speaking to GI.biz, Merceron reckons platform holders Sony and Microsoft made a massive mistake in stretching the lifecycle of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 beyond the norm.
“We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven, eight, nine or even 10 years and it’s the biggest mistake they ever made,” he said.
"This generation has been way too long, and I say this because you have a lot of developers that work on a new platform, and perhaps will not succeed, so they will wait for the next generation, and will jump on that platform. You could not do that with this generation though.”
"So these developers went elsewhere to see if the grass was greener. They found web browsers, they found iOS, they found other things and a lot of them won't come back to the hardware platforms. So you could look at it that thanks to Microsoft and Sony and the length of this generation, it helped the emergence of other platforms and helped them get strong before the next hardware comes out,” he added.
Merceron went on to say that future hardware cycles should be shorter otherwise the industry risks losing more developers – an alarming number of studios have folded in the last 12 months alone.
“If you start to make the entry bar really high, more studios will die, more publishers will die, there’ll be less titles on platforms, etc. If you make it accessible, you give more chances to people, you’ll have a better portfolio at launch.”
"Now you don't need to manage longevity by complexity of programming, because your longevity is ensured by your online model. And I would suggest that maybe we don't want long generations."
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DarkNemesis
- 6:43am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 1
I guess Square has not seen the growth of GOW,Beyond or TLOU @ E3? Those games prove that the PS3 at least still has a lot left in the tank.They should be concerned with releasing FFvs13 anyway.
Just read the whole thing and his point about games on iOS has no impact on console gaming.Shorty generation cycles would hurt the industry as a whole and more developers would fail because they would not have the time to establish their franchies and new engins always having to learn a new dev kit.The console sales would suffer too if consoles came out every 4-5 years.The last thing we need is gaming being like the cell phone and tablet industry.I just bought my SSGSII and already the SSGSII is out.The recession and more competition has lead to companies closing.
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Mo-green28
- 6:55am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 2
I guess he doesn't know that NA has been in a recession, and even if next gen was ready in 2010 or Last Year no one would have really jumped on to buy new hghly expensive consoles. Also like Sony's been saying there would have been no to very little innovation in that next gen if it would been out during those times. 1 more thing, the fact that this gen has updates helped alot to keep these things alive this long. I say the complete opposite of this guy, I think the longer wait makes us more ready for next gen, because we actually have time to grow tired of the current systems before they come out and really want them. I got my first PS2 on 2001 X-Mas by the time 2003 was around PS3 and Nextbox rumors were rampant. I got my PS3 in 2007 and I still dont think we need another gen yet.
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Epic_gear |
anthouts- 7:31am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 4
Since when longevity of formats has made things difficult for developers? After all the whining about difficulties in programing and the time needed to get familiar with a new format, now the 8-10 year life-cycle suddenly became a problem??? Or maybe Square Enix can't go on with current gen 'cause of lack of challenge...? What exactly did they do with the current gen again...? Or maybe this is just Sony speaking through them to gradually prepare us for an earlier release of PS4... Problem? None. Just cut the cr@p.
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Scarl |
Scarl- 8:41am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 6
How can this "cycle" be too long if it takes Squenix LONGER than the cycle to actually produce games for it (the aforementioned Versus).
Square Enix would be better off trying to create better titles than they are to complain that the current gen is getting old. Sure, I am looking forward to the PS4, but as long as other developers are able to keep pushing out great games for the PS3, I'm in no hurry (I have a backlog of great games to finish playing, at the moment).
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Ghost-Rhayne |
Ghost-Rhayne- 8:55am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 7
LOL "devs struggled with current tech so went to facebook games...releasing more advanced tech that carries the expectation of better games and graphics would OF COURSE kept them deveoloping for consoles cause that would be much easier than it is now." Man, this guy is a moron.
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HiMyNameIs
- 9:36am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 8
Im all for advancing and pushing the envelope as far as what a console can do. ten years is way too long especially given the fact that technology is an exponentially growing field. We go from storing 8 songs on a track the size of my hand to storing thousands on something as small as my finger. I think we can handle a new console right about now.
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mikeghtmare
- 10:14am EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 9
Big LOL, I agree with you guys, how come they have underdelivered if this gen has been too long.
And its bullcrap about developers; it's not like they were NOT going to explore other devices, and it's NOT like they won't try their hand again next gen.
Square keeps going lower and lower; they should focus on their own problems instead of focusing on Sony's or MS's problems. -
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TheTenth666
- 12:21pm EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 13
and why should we care? SquareEnix has release some of the most rushed (Infinite undiscovery, Last remnant) and destroyed their biggest licence (Final fantasy 13) ; they're so occupied at cashing money with rushed games or games that will sell because the license is notorious they don't understand what gamers really want
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Gameoholic007 |
Demented007- 3:30pm EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 15
Who in the h e l l cares about what Square says. They need to worry about coming out with some new games, because the FF franchise isn't going to carry them much further.
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NirvanaFr3ak
- 4:35pm EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 17
@Gameoholic007
My toughts exactly. The have truly fallen from grace in the gaming community. Their material is simply eye candy garbage. We need content and quality. It's the least we should expect from one of the biggest developers in the bussiness. FF12 was the last FF I got on first day release. FF13 was complete garbage. I will be waiting for reviews before getting any future titles from SE.
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D3seeker
- 9:29pm EDT - July 10th, 2012
- 19
Because it's Sqaure saying it no one wants to take it seriously, but if it was another dev more of you guys might semthesize or reason with their plea. i for one am in agreement, this gen is gone on longer than it should. MS ans Sony were not fully ready for the HD console gen and just because closed boxes get crazy optimization doesn't mean all these devs want to spend the time trying to crunch everything down, so yes they will just ship to more open waters to get their products/materpieces out.
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leoinbama |
leoinbama- 3:14pm EDT - July 13th, 2012
- 20
I know people that still can't afford this generation's systems, so I don't see how rushing into even more expensive hardware could be the solution to anything. Perhaps if they could find better hardware at a more affordable rate, then yeah...but who sees them releasing the PS4 at a lower cost then the PS3?
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