Ubisoft CEO Thinks a Prolonged Console Life-Cycle “Damaged” the Industry

In all my life playing videogames, this console life-cycle is definitely one of the — if not the — longest I've ever been a part of. While console-makers normally set out each console's life in a five-year plan, it's different for the Xbox 360 and PS3, as both companies want their respective consoles to last as long as possible to gain maximum profit on each machine sold.

So, hardware manufacturers like a long life-cycle, but game publishers might not share the same sentiment. In a chat with Polygon, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot thinks that with a prolonged life-cycle, publishers are willing to take less risks when we're near a console's lifespan, and this, in turn, equates to less new IPs that "damages" the industry.

I think that what has happened is the transition has been very long…You know, in the industry, we were used to changing machines every five years. This time we are in the seventh year of the 360. We need new consoles and at the end of the cycle generally the market goes down because there are less new IPs, new properties, so that damaged the industry a little bit.

Guillemot states that most publishers and studios use the transition to a new console as a chance to "reinvent" themselves and to take more risks. 

Transitions are the best times, are the best ways, to make all of our creators take more risks and do different things…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.

Ubisoft's head honcho also adds that he hopes "next time (consoles) they will come more often."

What's interesting here is that Guillemot's company is introducing a new IP this late into their respective life-cycles and of course, I'm referring to 2012's E3 showstopper, Watch Dogs. Mind you, while Ubisoft is saying that the game will be making its way onto the PS3 and Xbox 360, that doesn't rule out the possibility that it will be a "multi-gen" game or will be rolled into next-gen platforms. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

Do you agree with Guillemot that the next-gen of hardware shouldn't last this long or would you rather Sony, Microsoft and even Nintendo try to make their respective consoles last as long as possible?