Microsoft/Sony: No new consoles in 2012

Both Sony and Microsoft have
told French publication Le Point (via CVG) that consumers shouldn’t expect to
get their hands on new consoles
before 2013. Microsoft France’s Cedric Delmas told the magazine he
was “certain… that there will be nothing new in 2012.”
Similarly, Philippe Cardone, French PlayStation CEO, points out that
his company was the last to join the current generation
(paradoxically and infamously beginning said generation), and as such
“will probably be the last to announce something” new.

Above: Hope and pray that the Internet has enough crack to turn out another 6-12 months’ worth of “concept images” for the new machines

Both speakers display a
reluctance to be measured on the same timeline as ostensible rival
Nintendo. “We are not here to deal with Nintendo and they are not
there to fight against other manufacturers,” argues Delmas, saying
the company has “placed itself in a different cycle” with the Wii
and DS lines. “The Wii is pressed for time because it is in
decline,” suggests Cardone, a pressure that doesn’t apply to his
company. Delmas is more diplomatic: “they advance at their own
pace, successfully as we have seen with the Wii, and now it is their
turn to present their innovation.”

Epic’s Tim Sweeney, speaking
to Venture Beat, applauded Sony and Microsoft’s decision to hold off
on a premature upgrade. While it’s “harder to generate the same
excitement from the same hardware” after a certain point, Sweeney
points out, with a new machine “you reset the installed base to
zero and it’s a lot harder to sell a lot of games again.”
Sweeney, whose company was influential in the hardware design
of the Xbox 360, says an upgrade is only due “when you can make a
dramatic leap in quality, not just 2X or 3X. It has to be huge and
fundamentally new.”