What is the life-cycle of a console?
We’ve all been playing games for most of our lives, right? So, I felt it was important to know how long a gaming console will last. Recently, I did some research, and I thought you guys might find it helpful if you know some of the statistics over the life-cycle of a gaming console.
So, the first question we’ve to ask is, what is a life-cycle? Well, it can be defined as the series of stages a manufactured product goes through from its inception to the production of its successor (the fact that I searched for the definition on Google probably shows how lazy I am)
So, the console wars is currently stagnant in its 8th generation, so I looked up some of the release dates for Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony’s consoles (not portable, mind you. That’s a topic for another article). These are the de facto release dates from the predecessors of each console to its 7th, 6th, and even 5th generation.
I’m not going to include the slim, or refined edition of each console, like the PS3 Slim, for example, to make things easier.
Let’s get straight to it.
Wii U
I’d originally decided to exclude the Wii U (cough, cough), but, it technically is an 8th generation console, so..
- Nintendo 64- 1996
- GameCube- 2001
- Wii- 2006
- Wii U- 2012
Well, from the above data, we can infer that Nintendo has been sticking to a neat schedule of an average of 5-6 years.
XBOX One
- XBOX- 2001
- XBOX 360- 2005
- XBOX One- 2013
You can notice a huge gap between the release of the XBOX 360 and the XBOX One. I’ll be talking about the reason for that in a few seconds.
PlayStation 4
So, let’s check out the statistics for our beloved PlayStation 4, shall we?
- PlayStation- 1995
- PlayStation 2- 2000
- PlayStation 3- 2006
- PlayStation 4- 2013
Again, similar to the XBOX, There seems to be a huge gap between the PS3 and the PS4. So, why is that?
Microsoft did not necessarily feel threatened to release a new updated console not because Sony was doing the same thing per se, but because the 360 was a powerful and efficient console in and of itself.
Obviously, Sony had similar reasons, hence the gap between the 7th and 8th generations. But, that does not render the PlayStation 3 and the XBOX 360 obsolete, since the PlayStation 4 and the XBOX One (XBOX One finally gets backwards compatibility) does not support backwards compatibility, they’ll be around for a long time.
So, what can be accepted by the gaming community at large as a decent life-cycle for a console? Scouring online forums and my opinions as well, most of the gamers felt that a solid 7-8 years is more than enough, and completely converges with the consoles of the 7th generation.
So, using the above data, we can say that the average life-cycle of today’s consoles might be around 7-8 years. Please do remember that these predictions are purely arbitrary, and I cannot predict the future (or can I?)
*Cue dramatic music*
Let me know what you think.
First!
2020 be ps5
I think the last console cycle was an anomaly. The systems were powerful enough to take players into the next decade and beyond. Look at the average Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 title… although the consoles are technically dated, the games themselves hardly reflect that.
Sony and Microsoft have course-corrected with the Xbox One and Playstation 4. While more powerful than their predecessors, they’re fairly low spec by the standards of gaming PCs, and probably won’t take us into the next decade the way the Xbox 360 and PS3 had. It’s planned obsolescence; the same reason Apple can sell a new iPhone every year.
But yeah, the average console life cycle is five years, give or take. Some systems don’t even last that long (Saturn, Dreamcast) and others far exceed their lifespan due to unpredictable external factors. The Neo-Geo was supported for 14 years (!!!) due to its power and popularity as a cheap arcade jukebox. The Atari 2600 lasted nearly as long thanks to renewed interest in the video game market.
First!!
The only reason the 7th gen has gone on for so long, is due to the activity that is still present in the last gen’s community. Still a lively bunch of players who’ve remained on last gen; most likely due to the lack of desire to move towards next-gen for the minor improvement gap, or that the majority of last-gen players are kids and can’t afford the upgrade to next-gen, unless they save up their birthday money.
Sony and Microsoft see this opportunity as a valid excuse to make more money, it’s that simple. The community is still thriving with millions of players. Why would they need to cease support just yet. It’s about money, not the evolution of hardware or graphics to a business. Last-gen might slow down the evolution of next-gen improvements, but does that really matter on a business scale? No.
You’re wrong. The last Console Generation lasted so long because they were updatable. The interface/features of the launch PS3/360 were radically different from how they are now.
As also a PC Gamer i must clearly say: 5 Years for a Console is best, 6 maximum. PS4 and XBox One comes too late and as a PC Gamer you notice it on the PC Games… long time no need for an Hardware update and so the development of PC Hardware slows down too much, because the PC should be the platform that push Computer technology forward.
Go back in history: Games like the Wing Commander series made the PC to that game platform that it is now. Why? Because to play this games at max you need to buy actual strong hardware. But before the PS4/XBox One came out many games runs already at max on a middle class PC.
Yeah, it is nice for PC players to can play longer with there Hardware without an upgrade, but that is only short thinking. Because of that we are 1-2 years behind where we could be on PC Hardware, because companies like Intel, AMD, NVidia etc. didn’t need to spend much resources in better Hardware.
And the new Consoles make it not better with there “cheap” Hardware. At the past Consoles was at release as powerful as a highend PC, but the actual Consoles were more like midclass on release… How long is 1080p now standard on PCs? Since a very long time (i already have a 4K TFT) and the actual Consoles reach 1080p more bad than good… So I hope this Console generation last max. for 5 years until a new Console came out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^MY WORDS EXACTLY!!!! It’s all about the money!
the lifespan for this gen will be shorter, 5 or 6 years at most. There is 4k displays coming and they can’t handle it.
I think PS3 has achieved the specifications necessary for the 3D gaming representation. If game maker sell the full price game with cheap graphics in PS4, User will criticize it but the game is very interesting. When the graphic is not elaborate, consumers determined that developers are lazy.
Hence I’m japanese… Now, Most Japanese prefer the smartphone game. Since the smartphone is not a dedicated game machine, It be allowed even in the “Illustration” representation. I guess.
And Japanese loves the old-dot picture.
As this article suggests, The hard Life cycle is updated while extending little by little. However, I think that game maker can’t follow even if PS5 has further 3D graphics spec. At least, Japanese cant imitate Hollywood scale like a “Destiny”.
I think it might be continued for long time that the Multi-PF includes PS3 even if hardware has been updated.
This console generation will end up much faster cause xone and ps4 dont have enough raw performance to handle as long as ps3 and x360
I got my PS3 SuperSlim (which is a 2012 model) in 2013, so Sony better not drop support.