If it feels like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were just released to you, you aren’t alone. The fall of 2013 was when both consoles launched to the public here in North America, which means that this current generation of consoles is just shy of being three years old. To wit, the PlayStation 3 was released in 2006, which means that there was a seven year gap between the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005, the Xbox One in 2013, making an even larger gap, yet there are already talks about all three of the industry heavies in Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo working on their next generation of consoles. Rumors are abound that Sony is working on a PlayStation 4.5 and that Nintendo is priming the Nintendo NX for an unveiling.
Now it sounds like that intuition that the next generation of console might be upon us sooner, rather than later, is not that far off. On Thursday, GameStop COO Tony Bartel was discussing the future of the company and the industry during an investor meeting and one line in particular has some eyebrows raised, GameStop reports:
“Although we have not modeled extensive growth for new innovation in this presentation, we are very pleased to see the introduction of technology like virtual reality and rumored new console launches, some of which seem imminent,” Bartel said.
Virtual reality is indeed upon us, with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive recently released to the public and PC users buying up more than the companies can build in time. Sony will be releasing their own PlayStation VR headset in the fall, which seems like a huge first step for VR on a consumer level. Technology continues to advance at a rapid rate and technology like virtual reality requires more horsepower to run smoothly, which accounts for the high prices and crazy specs for PCs right now, so it doesn’t come as a shock to learn that to adjust for such technologies that console developers are trying to get ahead of the curve and look to be introducing the next generation sooner, rather than later.
(Via GameSpot)