Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, has stated his belief that the next generation of consoles will show up by as early as 2013, feeling the current hardware space is “getting old and tight.”
Speaking during a chinwag with CVG, Yerli commented, “For some reason my gut feeling is still that we’ll see a new [console] generation in 2012, 2013."
He added: "Factually spoken, it looks like I’m going be wrong, but my gut feeling is that there’s going to be a new one because it’s really getting old and tight in this space."
Elsewhere, the executive said he feels the studio is already maxing out Crytek’s multiplatform capabilities with upcoming sci-fi shooter Crysis 2, though reckons they can still do more to squeeze juice out of the Xbox 360.
"… I think when we put Crysis 2 out we will show a level that is, multiplatform-wise, maxing out, but we will look into with Microsoft how Kingdoms can push the Xbox 360 110 percent, to its limits," continued Yerli.
"When you’re spending a multimillion budget only on the Xbox 360, that team will be able to crank out the last two or three percent left in the console. But I think that two or three percent will make the difference potentially between day and night that you cannot afford if you go multiplatform."
Yerli also feels that the lack of fresh hardware on the home console front is ultimately holding back the PC market.
"Because of the lack of a new generation of consoles… inevitably the PC cycle is being held back. So the PC generation has to innovate in different areas where it can be faster and more user-friendly, different models like free-to-play communities, more online, more social and more browser gaming.”
"These are areas that make gaming faster and more accessible for PC users. That isn’t the case right now and I think they’re areas where innovation can break through and reach gamers faster than on consoles."
In terms of new hardware, both Sony and Microsoft have hinted on several occasions that their current machine won’t be elbowed out of the equation just yet, with PS3 and 360 expected to last for at least a decade.