Playstation 4 og Xbox One er snart to år gamle, og med tanke på at denne generasjonen er spådd å vare i fem år er vi antageligvis et par år unna de første konkrete ryktene om neste generasjons konsoller.
For det kommer en generasjon, ifølge Microsofts tidligere Xbox-sjef Robbie Bach. I et intervju med Geek Wire sier han at han er overbevist om at konsollene overlever en stund til, men legger til i et spørsmål til seg selv at neste generasjon sannsynligvis vil være uten fysiske disker:
"Does it have a physical media? Probably not, so how does that look? Is it just a game box or is it more? What's the balance between what an Apple TV is and what an Xbox or a PlayStation 4 is? These are really interesting questions, and the teams going to have to wrestle with those. That next generation will be a whole new game."
Bach sier også at Microsofts oppkjøp av Minecraft er et tydelig signal om at de ikke har planer om å forlate konsollbransjen:
"I don't think it really matters because I think Microsoft has been pretty definitive about the direction they want to go. They spent a lot of money on Minecraft. They've been very definitive about restructuring the group to put Phil Spencer in charge and he really is running the business now. I think they're investing in the games. I think it's somewhat of a moot point.
I also point out, people don't realize how intertwined the Xbox business is with Microsoft technology. It's not a simple thing. I think Xbox as a standalone business would have its own set of challenges."
Til slutt sier Bach seg enig med virtual reality-skeptikerne, og hevder det vil bli vanskelig å få folk til å bite på:
"The problem is, right now, you've got to walk around looking like a complete goofball wearing this crazy thing on your head. You look like you should be in a Star Wars movie. By the way, they have problems with people getting sick using it. There's certain conditions where it's really tough. They have to figure out how to commercialize it."