When Does The Next Generation Start?

“When does the next generation actually start?” is a question that appears to be on a lot of people's minds. With the 360 and PS3 it seemed the crossover period between consoles was quite small. Not a lot of games saw releases on the PS2 and PS3 for instance. What's changed drastically is the installed user base of the last generation who are seemingly unwilling to move platforms just yet. With reports of hardware failure and almost no critical consensus on launch titles, who can blame them?

In an interview with Edge magazine, Sylvain Trottier, associate producer of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, explains why developers seem less inclined to embrace the eighth generation of consoles so fully, unlike previous generations, "You can never forget this is a business like any other business, and the goal is to make money. Dropping the current gen - with however many million consoles there are out there - is a key strategic decision."

This undoubtedly means we may see a much larger period of coexistence with the seventh and eighth generations of hardware. While both next gen systems boast an easy to learn infrastructure and fast learn-time for devs, we may not see that make all that huge a difference until much later on than otherwise expected. Sure Forza, Ryse and Killzone look astounding, but if it's graphics you're after, pick up a PC with a decent GPU for a reasonable sum.

So what does this mean for us as gamers as a whole? Can we expect this to hold back game design for another few years until the unconvinced installed user base of last gen are converted to the next gen? The answer is difficult. Most developers are seen to be downsizing significantly and which surely leaves little room for optimization for versions that aren't going to sell as many copies. Well with a few high-tier developers already moving their sights to the Xbox one and PS4, we may be in for a bumpy ride.

Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall and Ubisoft Massive’s Tom Clancy's The Division are technically sales rivals, but may be the saving grace of this early game development period. While both undoubtedly have large sums of money available for development, the best talent in the business and the PR budget to back it all up, it may be their dedication to making games for the next generation and pushing the technology at their disposal to its limits, that shows other developers it's possible to do while simultaneously keeping your millions of fans and shareholders happy.

Ubisoft Massive are a studio that until now have been able to really stretch their creative muscles with a large budget and with The Division they seem to be going all out. The gorgeous visuals, huge open world and interesting social mechanics seem to be pushing the boundaries of what older hardware could do and are designed with the abilities of newer systems in mind. Respawn on the other hand are very aware of how AAA games are made as the majority of the team was responsible Call Of Duty and more importantly the Modern Warfare titles.

Trying to merge the idea of giant mech suits fighting with the fast paced CoD-like infantry combat going on around that in a multiplayer arena while also telling a traditionally single player story, is something that could not have been thought up or achieved by any other group of developers. How they pull this off is yet to be seen, but with their main platform a next-gen one, it should certainly be a game-changing experience.

Are these two new ideas enough to change gamers minds though? As much as Titanfall does appear to have many a gamer excited to pick up the new hardware, this isn’t going to be until March, and until then there is very little else for next-gen adopters to really get their teeth into. With a whole load of launch titles under fire for not being a big enough departure from anything we’ve seen before, are we going to be left with consoles for months with the ability to play just a few games that we could have played on our older systems?

Only time will tell when the next generation will start, it’s still an exciting ride you’ll be along for if you own a new console. The one thing to keep thinking is that it’s inevitable, the changeover will happen. It’s just a question of when, not if.