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Before the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, consoles tended to have roughly five year lifespans. This generation is going to be different, though: Mirosoft just released the Kinect, which they view as taking the Xbox 360 through at least a few new years, while Sony went on record at the launch of the PS3 that they viewed it as being a console that would be around for a decade.
Why are console makers suddenly being so conservative about releasing new consoles? In an interview with Eurogamer, THQ’s Danny Bilson basically puts it all in perspective: if Sony and Microsoft were to announce new hardware tomorrow, the price of games would have to shoot up way past $100 a copy in order to finance the teams.
“It still costs us a fortune to make games on this platform. If they’re going to up the scale, up the art, up the content, I don’t know how to make that and sell it to anybody for under $100 a game.” Wilson said. “Who wants to do that? It’s bad for everybody.”
That’s a very interesting point, but it’s worth noting that in the 80s and early 90s, games already cost almost that much, and that’s without accounting for inflation. Games have been stuck at a price of roughly $50 or $60 for a couple decades now. Maybe it’s time for inflation to take its course?
