Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot looks to shorter cycle for next gen

Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillermot says that the current long console cycle is bad for the industry and stunts new IP’s.

So here’s an interesting argument against a longer console life cycle (like the one we’re in now): Ubisoft’s Guillermot claims that it hurts new IP development and causes stagnation in the development of new ideas. I can honestly say I’ve never thought of it that way- but the man makes a point.

 “When a console is out for a long time … you don’t take as much risks on totally new IPs because even if they are good, they don’t sell as well.”

Guillermot then went on to say that developers take risks at the beginning of new console’s life cycles and tend to be more amenable to reinventing themselves during those times.

I always looked to new console releases as chances to get my hands on some new tech and upgraded graphics, but the Ubisoft kind of makes sense here. A new console definitely provides a break from the day-in-day-out of the status quo. Stagnation and playing it safe goes out the window a bit and I can definitely see where he going with his thinking.

In the case of something like the Wii or the new Wii U- a new generation of game systems can actually give devs something entirely new to play with and develop for too.

The next Playstation and Xbox are heavily rumored to (at the very least) be announced next year so 2013 promises to be a very interesting one in the gaming universe.

Source: Polygon