Square Enix: Sony and Microsoft making a 'big mistake' by sticking with current gen

For the moment, Sony and Microsoft seem content to stick with the current generation of consoles instead of rushing the next generation to market. Some players love the idea of a longer console generation and some don't, but lately we've been seeing publishers and developers join the call for a new line of consoles. Square Enix is the latest publisher to do so, saying today that Sony and Microsoft are making a "big mistake" by trying to extend the life of current generation machines.

Speaking to GamesIndustry International, Square Enix worldwide technology director Julien Merceron said that since this console generation has been so long, developers who have experienced difficulty in developing for Xbox 360 and PS3 have now moved on to mobile and browsers, whereas in generations past, they would simply wait for next generation consoles to arrive:

They found web browsers, they found iOS, they found other things and a lot of them won't come back to the hardware platforms. So you could look at it that thanks to Microsoft and Sony and the length of this generation, it helped the emergence of other platforms and helped them get strong before the next hardware comes out.

Last month at E3, Square Enix revealed a tech demo for the next generation (seen above). It's certainly impressive, but with Microsoft and Sony refusing to talk about their upcoming consoles, it seems that it will be quite some time before we're playing games that look like this. Naturally, there have been plenty of rumors and speculation, but unfortunately it all comes down to the decisions made by Sony and Microsoft executives, so the next generation doesn't appear to be any closer despite player and publisher demand.

[via GamesIndustry International]