God of War Creator Says Next Gen Will Be the Last

David Jaffe thinks streaming services will be the future.

Nintendo’s next-gen Wii U system is on its way, and everybody knows Sony and Microsoft are working on their PS4 and Xbox 720, respectively. God of War and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe thinks that these next consoles will have the longest cycle lifetime yet – and they will be the last.

“Look, consoles are going away. I think in 10 years – probably sooner, but 10 years is always the safe thing to say so you don’t sound like an idiot – but here’s what I’ll say: I’ll go on the record and say that the next generation of hardware will be the last consoles. And they should be,” Jaffe told GI.biz.

The arrival of mobile gaming on iOS and Android combined with streaming services like Gaikai meant that Jaffe could only see the traditional console model in decline. “It doesn’t mean you won’t buy a piece of hardware from Sony, but you’ll probably buy a television that streams the stuff,” said Jaffe.

You’ll still have Sony, loud and proud and strong making these great, big, epic games like God of War and Uncharted, and they’ll be making great little games like Sound Shapes, but they’ll become more like movie studios for video games. I’ll be able to stream in the next Uncharted and Plants vs Zombies and you won’t even think about it. It’ll just be like I can watch a public access show on my TV or I can watch Avatar.

In the end, said Jaffe, the games would stick around, but it would all come down to new delivery mechanisms. Still, in speaking about his lack of enthusiasm for the Wii U, he admitted his track record for prediction wasn’t perfect. “But I don’t f***ing know – I mean I thought PSP was going to clobber the DS. I’m in the industry, I make a living in the industry, but I have no track record of guessing this shit.”

Source: GI.biz