What is an ideal console lifespan this day and age to you?

I really like what's happening this gen, a mid-gen console every 3 years and new a console every 6 years.
Last gen lasted far too long
 
Seriously, before joining GAF I never thought of consoles in generations.

I never even considered generations. Probably because I rarely got consoles when they launched when I was younger. I probably picked up a handful of consoles in the middle of their generation. I think I got one at the end of its generation. Or near its EOL. (orig Xbox)

Now that there's a handful of topics about it from time to time and I have posted about it from time to time....4-5 years seem fine.

At the same time, I also might prefer a longer one like last gen.
 
Enough to justify a generational leap. 6 years should do that, 7 years at the absolute most.

3 per revised console.
 
autoduelist said:
8 years. With a $400 console purchase on launch, that's $50 a year for the hardware. With a growing family, that's the most I can really justify given I'm buying games as well.

If they're any quicker, I'd have a hard time convincing my wife I need a new rig. I sure can't convince her I should get a PS4 Pro given that I have a perfectly good PS4 sitting in front of the tv.

Not to mention, I want a couple sequels per cycle. So... 8-10 years is just about right, and gives a nice big jump every gen.
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Man that's a bit of a stretch man, 8 to 10 years on one console?
 
6 years is about the sweet spot for me. I never want a gen as long as the last one again.

I feel like we're probably going to be moving away from the typical "gen" system though. Incremental upgrades somewhere in the middle of the cycle, followed by bigger ones a bit after.
 
6 years max unless we're talking about some incredible console that continues to get releases even after the next-gen starts.

PS3/360 showed how an overly long cycle hampers software development.
 
Between 6 and 7. Gen 7 got me feeling comfortable I guess.


Just how I feel, I don't think there's a need for new gens after 4 or 5 years..or whenever one platform under performs and wants to hit the reset button to make people forget.
 
As long as it's able to support the current games properly, but once the hardware can be improved and sell, they should do it. Smaller iterations with frequent improvements are great. But then maybe at that point you should just switch to PC anyway. 4 years is probably good.
 
PS3 to PS4 was 7 years - Xbox 360 to Xbox One was 8 years. Too long.

6 would be fine, regardless of mid-gen Pro/Scorpio.

However I could easily see Sony and Microsoft waiting a bit more so that they can make as much profit as possible on current gen. Also, silicon process concerns. Plus, to give devs more time on current gen / and to prepare for next gen. There's also got to be enough of a technological jump. So expect more powerful consoles with new CPUs, a major leap in GPU power and some form of high bandwidth memory no later than the next U.S. Presidential Election, aka Fall 2020.
 
i like 5 years. 6 max.

Anything shorter is just tooo short. Especially when you consider the first year is pretty much cross-gen titles.
 
I'm going to say 8 years. Give publishers to recoup cost. If there are any hicpup with die shrinkage and actual CPU performance improvements. Eight years, I think, is a safe number.
 
I'm good with how it is now, or rather how it's been the past 10 years with Sony and Microsoft having a 6-7 year console cycle and Nintendo kinda being offset in the middle.
 
gelf said:
I'm fine with 6 or even more. Progress is overrated if it just means the same games with prettier graphics. I've hit diminishing returns with how games look so I'd rather as long as possible before being forced to need new hardware to play new releases.

75% of games I buy these days would likely work on a system a gen or more lower anyway.
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This for me. Not too fussed about graphics and development of larger games takes a while. Seeing as some generations take a couple of years to get going because of that, new hardware every three years seems too soon.
 
7 or 8 years is good at this point. Release an upgrade in the middle, whatever, but systems have gotten advanced enough, and development cycles so long, that even 7 or 8 years on the market will result in a far smaller library than the pre-HD consoles had in 5 years.
 
In the SD era, around 5 years. But with HD development taking so much longer I feel like the 7-8 year cycle is better.

My general rule of thumb is a AAA studio should be able to output 3 games a gen.

Bioware put out Dragon Age 1 & 2 and the Mass Effect Trilogy.

Naughty Dog put out Uncharted Trilogy and TLOU.

Epic put out the Gears trilogy and Judgement.

Bungie put out Halo 3, ODST and Reach.

You get my point lol.

I feel like with 5 year cycles now, that's only long enough to make one or two big games a console gen before needing to learn new tech again.

Like if Mass Effect Andromeda comes out this spring, that's four whole years in development, the entire lifespan of the original Xbox and the Wii U.
 
With AAA games taking more and more time to make, I'd say about 7 years is about right. What's the point of a 5 year generation if studios will only be able to release 1 or 2 games for it?
 
Nintendo had it best with Game & Watch.

1 console = 1 game.

Coded to the metal, extreme focus, optimized to perfection, zero fragmentation.

loljk
 
120v said:
i expect to get a year for about every $100 i've spent on the console.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that seems like a good rule of thumb. A six or seven-year gen will do nicely for me, I think any more than that is pushing it as this gen doesn't have the raw comparative power the last did. I only got into the gen a year later with Sunset Overdrive and MCC and it still feels like time has flown by, and with the number of games especially through GwG I get I don't really feel the need to upgrade.

I'm hoping come 2019 or 2020 we'll have nice speedy SSDs standard, at the very least.
 
What the hell at people saying 6 or less. Do you people think games can be made in a year or something? This isn't the 90s anymore. Games have become increasingly more difficult to make with each new generation and we typically don't see truly good games until 2-3 years into the generation and that gap continues to grow.
 
4 Years.

4 years of GPU and CPU advancement is big enough to warrant new hardware to play games.

And to the above post about games taking longer to make; This is why full backwards and forward compatibility is a must and a variable system where the game can upscale/perform better if you have the better hardware (like Pro/Scorpio)
 
Gens never drag on for me. Was fine with ps3 length. Will be fine with ps5 in 2020.

Hard for me to imagine switching to full time ps5, until I get one and my ps4 will just be like my current ps3...never use lol
 
I'd say around 6-7 at the moment. With the increasing budgets/dev time, I don't have an issue with long cycles. As long as we are getting quality games from it.

It'll be interesting to see who makes the first move after the Pro and Scorpio are on the market though.
 
Looks like 6-7 years will be the new normal outside of Nintendo. I'm alright with that since I usually wait a year or two before I pick up new hardware.
 
10 years. This is obviously my opinion, but we're at the point we're console graphics look amazing already and the improvements a new gen would bring, 60fps, 4K gaming plus other stuff is not worth rushing into. Just yet. Plus the mid gen refresh has extended this for me.

With increased dev time now, we're getting less games from developers each gen as well and I think 10 years is long enough to learn the hardware and put out 2-3 games.

This is with PS4 and consoles onwards though, 10 years with that PS3 user interface would have killed me eventually
 
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