Ubisoft: Lack of new consoles has "penalised" us

A second high-profile publisher figure has bemoaned the extended lifecycles of the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

"What we missed was a new console every five years," Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot told Gamasutra. "We have been penalized by the lack of new consoles on the market.

I understand the manufacturers don’t want them too often because it’s expensive, but it’s important for the entire industry to have new consoles because it helps creativity. It’s a lot less risky for us to create new IPs and new products when we’re in the beginning of a new generation. Our customers are very open to new things. Our customers are reopening their minds – and they are really going after what’s best.

At the end of a console generation, they want new stuff, but they don’t buy new stuff as much. They know their friends will playCall of DutyorAssassin’s Creedso they go for that. So the end of a cycle is very difficult."

The comments come after Square Enix’s worldwide technology director Julien Merceron said earlier this month that: We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven, eight, nine or even ten years and it’s the biggest mistake they’ve ever made.”

Traditional console lore once dictated that platforms holders would update their hardware every five years. For instance, five years passed between the NES and the SNES, as well as the N64, GameCube and Wii.

Five years too separated the PSOne and PS2.

However, Wii and PS3 have now been on the market for six years while market leader Xbox 360 is now in its seventh year.