For over three decades, the arrival of a new console generation has always sparked excitement – a promise of revolutionary changes, groundbreaking games, and a stunning leap in visual fidelity. But this time, something feels profoundly different. A sense of dread, even, hangs over the impending arrival of PlayStation 6 and the next Xbox.
I haven’t encountered a single gamer who genuinely anticipates these new machines, or believes they’ll offer anything beyond an exorbitant price tag. The reasons are strikingly consistent, painfully obvious to anyone observing the industry, yet publishers seem determined to forge ahead regardless.
We’re nearing the inevitable first glimpse of the next generation, yet a six-year delay feels far more sensible. The current generation, in many ways, never truly materialized. Despite being five years in, it feels as though we’re barely scratching the surface of what these consoles are capable of.
Few games feel exclusive to the current hardware, and even fewer demand the power of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. There’s a palpable lack of enthusiasm for a new cycle, a feeling that the existing technology hasn’t been remotely exhausted. The current generation feels… unfinished.
And let’s be honest about the graphics. The visual leap between the current and next generation will be negligible. Perhaps only the most discerning eyes – those of Digital Foundry, perhaps – will detect a difference. For the average player, the improvements will be imperceptible, and the cost, astronomical.
The simple truth is, no one *wants* to pay for this upgrade. Prices are already spiraling, fueled by tariffs and the insatiable demand for RAM driven by artificial intelligence. This inflation will only exacerbate the financial burden for a product few people even asked for.
The problems plaguing the current generation – bloated development costs and agonizingly long production cycles – will only be amplified. Increasing complexity will lead to fewer ambitious, big-budget titles, with developers struggling to release a game more than once every six or seven years.
Prepare for an onslaught of AI-generated content, a digital wasteland of “slop.” The ominous pronouncements from Xbox regarding the “largest technical leap ever” hint at a disturbing reality: talented developers replaced by glorified autocorrect programs. It’s a future I want no part of.
We didn’t even *need* this generation. The PlayStation 4 era delivered stunning visuals, reasonable development timelines, and a healthy variety of games, including genuinely new intellectual properties. The current industry woes stem directly from a new generation that offered nothing truly innovative, merely exacerbating existing issues.
The next generation promises to be more of the same, only exponentially worse. The entire system risks imploding under its own weight, a disastrous outcome for an industry I deeply cherish. The path forward isn’t always about chasing the newest technology; sometimes, it’s about recognizing when enough is enough.
The industry needs to pause, reassess, and focus on delivering quality experiences, not chasing diminishing returns. A new generation right now feels less like progress and more like a reckless gamble with the future of gaming.
