THQ bigwig Brian Farrell has joined the growing list of industry giants to back the notion that five-year console lifecycles are a thing of the past, stating his belief that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will be sticking around for at least another 3-4 years.
Farrell’s comments come in light of Microsoft recently claiming that it has no intention of releasing a successor to the 360 for “years and years.” Similarly, Sony has reiterated on more than one occasion that it’s plans for PS3 are stictly long term.
"The video game industry for years was based on this five-year product lifecycle," said Farrell, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York.
"We think those days are over. We think the product lifecycle for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be an extended lifecycle.”
"We do think the majority of sales for our industry will be from these existing platforms. for about the next three or four years."
Microsoft was first out the door with its latest home console, launching 360 back in November 2005. Sony and Nintendo both followed a year later with the release PS3 and Wii, respectively.