The former CEO of Electronic Arts has stated his belief that the next generation of consoles will ‘be bigger’ than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era.
“I think they’ll be bigger than the last generation, actually,” John Riccitiello told GI.biz. "The last generation can be described as supercharged engines - they had super-powerful boxes. But the entirety of the online communication and being able to connect to your friends and all that stuff, a seamless, smooth, social experience, was just masking tape - barely put together. Remember that this was eight years ago. Most people were just moving on from their 28k modems.
"Now these are fully functioning, fully integrated online computers connected to the best screen in your house."
The former executive also pointed to the improved user interface of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which he believes will be a large contribution to their success.
"You put a super computer under your TV, plug it in with one connection and it works. It knows who you are, it knows what your games are and it's unbelievably simple; it's not like PC plug and play, it's just plug and play," he said. "The next generation of consoles are going to be a massive improvement on user interface. So I think that 's going to matter."
Riccitiello said that he’s still an advocate of traditional games consoles despite the impact tablet and mobile gaming has had on the industry.
"I think touch changed everything, I think tablets are incredible. I think they're probably... one of the best ways to game out there," he said. "I'm still a believer in the next generation of consoles but another billion and a half people came into the industry as a consequence of mobile and I think that's a pretty cool place to focus.
"I'm a gamer, I like games, I like people who build them, and I'm going to continue to work with them."
Do you think that PS4 and Xbox One will prove a bigger success than the current generation of consoles? Let us know your thoughts below.
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