Microsoft's Phil Harrison has told MCV that he believes the Xbox 360's eight year life cycle was appropriate.
“Eight years is actually the right time," he commented, adding:
“Xbox 360 continues to grow, over 80 million units and counting. And the underlying silicon chip design innovations that allow Xbox One to be what it is, didn’t reach the performance level and price point that we needed until right now. So if we had come out three years ago with a new console, it would not be to the same degree of performance or price that we have now.
“And Xbox 360 had seven years of growth which I think is a record for a console.”
The Xbox 360 launched just four years after the original Xbox and it's far too early to say when the Xbox One successor will be launched but Microsoft has said that the console will last "conservatively a decade".
Earlier this week, EA's Patrick Soderlund said the publisher expects to see new consoles from Sony and Microsoft in five or six years – Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot has also expressed his desire to see a shorter console life cycle this time round.
Sony's Fergal Gara has hinted that the PS4 will have a shorter life cycle than the PS3 – which is now seven years old.
