Ubisoft expects new consoles by 2012

By Games Industry.biz Published 22 January, 2009

Has also acquired new sports property.

Ubisoft has said that it expects a new generation of home consoles to be on the market by 2012, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The French publisher is increasing headcount to work on future technology, with mergers also on the cards to increase development and technology resources.

"We want to take advantage of a company that could bring more technology to us, or new brands," said CEO Yves Guillemot.

"So we have now enough to help us to grow the company for not only next year but to get ready for the coming of the next generation consoles that are probably going to happen 2011, 2012.

"We have to be ready for that, we are already hiring people and buying some technology and looking at some brands as well," he revealed.

And following major success with new IP Shaun White's Snowboarding, Guillemot confirmed the company will soon announce the acquisition of a new sports property to increase Ubisoft's standing in the genre.

"It's really an achievement for us and it's helping us to consider that it's possible to take some share of that business," said Guillemot of the success in the sports market.

"And we will soon announce that we will make a little bit of a merger and acquisition on that front. It's a small one but it will show you that we want to invest more in that direction," he added.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • barat #1 3 years ago

    My guess:

    Xbox 3: 2011
    Wii 2: 2012
    PS4: 2013

  • Eraysor #2 3 years ago

    "And following major success with new IP Shaun White's Snowboarding"

    Curse the stupid public for buying this rubbish! SSX4 please!

  • DAN.E.B #3 3 years ago

    my guess xbox 720: 2010

  • Kyledanutmeg #4 3 years ago

    well microsoft move fast for anything so im guessing some sort of new xbox by 2010

  • Les #5 3 years ago

    I expect Ubisoft to be bankrupt by 2010... ;)

  • Xerx3s #6 3 years ago

    Well, better late than never I suppose. :(

  • Saltefanden #7 3 years ago

    I expect the new console generation to hit within 1-2 months, according to my secret industry sources.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/09 @ 19:30

  • canIdoyabombsforya #8 3 years ago

    720 December 2010
    Wii 2 December 2011
    PS4 2014+ (already confirmed by the nutters at sony ;) )

  • Dark_Era #9 3 years ago

    trust me, with the amount of man power MS and Sony are shedding alongside the low margins being realised, and how powerfull the current gen machines are, i doubt we'll be seeing new console anytime soon...

  • polaris70 #10 3 years ago

    I think 2012 at the earliest for the next Xbox. I don't think it will be released before then. The Xbox is selling well and going from strength to strength so they'll want to keep that going as long as possible, only when sales start to slow down will they start even talking about a new console. I think they wil probably release a new console 18 months or two years before the next Playstation to get a lead again.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/09 @ 19:45

  • Gambit1977 #11 3 years ago

    Shaun White SOLD???? Christ, I hate parents!!!

  • ripsa #12 3 years ago

    Given the economic climate, the shedding of jobs especially concerning Microsoft and Sony, the fact that the Wii and 360 are selling well and hitting their strides, Sony by their own recent comments still feel their developers have a long way to go to fully exploit the hardware, as well as various other factors; I think that this console cycle will be longer then the previous cycle.

    The big three and anyone else I doubt are going to be spending large amounts on R&D over the next year and half so that they can launch in 2010. We'll see revisions of hardware and price competition, firmware updates, and so forth. I doubt we'll see a new hardware release for a while yet. Ubisoft is probably approximately right with a 2012 date.

  • AOFanboi #13 3 years ago

    Not Wii 2, probably Super Wii instead. Then WiiCube. Then Wiiwii...

  • carrotcake #14 3 years ago

    @the guy who said 2014 for ps4.
    yeah maybe that's when it will hit europe after it gets delayed.

  • Les #15 3 years ago

    "the Xbox is selling well and going from strength to strength so they'll want to keep that going as long as possible"

    I'm sorry, but 'beating'* a seriously underperforming PS3, while still impressive, is not 'selling well' nor 'going from strength to strength'. True, it could have been a lot worse but the fact is that for all the good, traditional games that have been released in the last two 'greatest years for gaming ever' PS3 and 360 together don't even generate enough revenue for publishers to make a decent living.

    * The lead in installed base is important for bragging rights but that's about it, relative distance between the two is getting smaller and smaller (while the relative distance between 360 and PS3 together and Wii is only getting bigger) meaning it has less and less impact on publisher's decisions. And than there's the fact that adjusted for time, PS3 is actually 10% ahead of 360. True, it will probably require a price drop Sony can hardly afford for PS3 to match 360's third year but stranger things have happened...

  • Les #16 3 years ago

    "Ubisoft - they usually talk a lot of bollocks, don't they?"

    Would be OK if it was just 'talking'... ;)

  • AllenSpawn #17 3 years ago

    Note to microsoft:
    I love my 360..... But I am now on my forth! since launch.
    Spend some frickin money on your 720, to save in the long run.

    Note to Sony:
    You don't need to release a new console for a while.... That ps3 thing is just growing in stature by the day....IMHO


    Note to nintendo:
    Can you chuck in a dust cover for your next machine......
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/09 @ 20:49

  • polaris70 #18 3 years ago

    I'm sorry, but 'beating'* a seriously underperforming PS3, while still impressive, is not 'selling well' nor 'going from strength to strength'

    Well I would say making a profit and a year on year increase in sales does warrant what I said about he 360 going from strength to strength, regardless of what Sony is doing (I didn't even mention Sony in my post). Even with all the problems at Sony at the moment (they just posted a $1.7 billion loss and look to have took a much larger hit than Microsoft) I wouldn't like the Playstation to fail. Sony is responsible for the 360 price-cut after all, so I hope both consoles succeed.

  • Rizzle #19 3 years ago

    As others have pointed out, we may (MAY!) just get a Wii 1.5 with DVD playback by 2012. If we're good boys and girls.

    But really, the point of this article is that Ubisoft feel oddly confident. Bully for them.

  • thesombrerokid #20 3 years ago

    microsoft and sony wont release a new console until the current gen consoles are outperformed by the pc by a long way, they usually wait till the PC is just about hitting the graphics that they will expect from the launch titles of thier next console the PC is not there yet but could be in 2 years, microsoft might be looking to tie in a second revision of DX11 with all the bugs ironed out and forced tesselation to the 720 for example which would put it 1-2 years away
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/09 @ 21:09

  • makeamazing #21 3 years ago

    As others have pointed out, we may (MAY!) just get a Wii 1.5 with DVD playback by 2012. If we're good boys and girls.

    Nice to see that Nintendo are thinking about putting in modern technology, I hear they are thinking about putting a cassette player in it as well ;)

    Seriously though I dont think any will be rushing a new console out. Developers cant afford it for starters, so I really think the next generation will actually be a massive improvement, it will be an upgrade, so that developers can take advantage of it and not have to invest millions developing for it.

    I say 2012. But as someone else mentioned i expect wii 1.5 to do rolling upgrades in a couple of years.

  • BadBoyBonner #22 3 years ago

    As others have pointed out, we may (MAY!) just get a Wii 1.5 with DVD playback by 2012. If we're good boys and girls.

    Would that make it the Gamecube 2.25? ;-)

  • gingerlink #23 3 years ago

    @AOFanboy, you missed Wii 64!

  • Rizzle #24 3 years ago

    Would that make it the Gamecube 2.25? ;-)

    ! I take it you're suggesting taping 2 GameCubes, a GBA and a Game and Watch together?

  • penhalion #25 3 years ago

    It's not expected for the world economy to recover until 2012. It would be suicide for any of the companies to make a new console until at least then. The price the new hardware would need to be sold at would make it pointless. For instance, each machine would need to be twice as powerful as the current one, backward compatible (no-one is making the sony mistake twice) and have a solid state harddrive.

    I think microsoft and nintendo will jump at the same time or nintendo will leap shortly before microsoft. I agree with everyone here in that Sony will be last to market again.

  • Dizzy #26 3 years ago

    Remember the 10 year plan!
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/09 @ 23:24

  • FenderMaster #27 3 years ago


    Wii 2 -- do not want
    720 -- needs to be reliable
    PS3 -- if they really wait until 2016, then they're going to come last again, unless they have a very unique product

    But honestly, with the exception of the Wii, do we really need any more power?

    Technical limitations are becoming a thing of the past for devs these days

  • local_celebrity #28 3 years ago

    @penhalion

    "It's not expected for the world economy to recover until 2012..."

    Who are you, Robert Peston?

    Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Fuckwit.

  • Wildsleven #29 3 years ago

    a new xbox maybe but dont you think its a bit early for the ps3 to upgrade?

  • Kengro #30 3 years ago

    That SOAB... Why the hell did they buy the rights for Links from MS if they can't get a damn golf game out. Fu*k Tiger Woods, that game series blows

  • Eraser #31 3 years ago

    2012 is a very safe bet, as all previous console generations have had a life cycle of about 5 years (2007 -> 2012).
    However, both Microsoft and Sony (moreso Sony actually) have said that their platform will be their thing for the next 10 years, so we'll see how that works out. Nintendo is saying they're not coming with a completely new console either and they'll probably follow the route of incremental upgrades (a la DS -> DS Lite -> DSi) so we'll have to see how MS and Sony respond to this.
    A 5 year cycle is an old habit though, and old habits die hard.
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/09 @ 07:55

  • des #32 3 years ago

    Xbox 3: 2011
    Wii 2: 2011
    PS4: 2010,or in the worst case possible 2011, unless they want to be pushed from the market,expect ducktaping

    If Sony allows 2 years head-start to competition,PS brand=dust

  • mazzl #33 3 years ago

    sony is until today still making a loss on hardware sales, they still have to come with a big price cut for ps3, so i don't see one of those coming for 4 years, ms will just want to be a year early again.
    the wii is not a games console, but a toy, so let's leave that one out ;)

    i expect a new xbox dec 2012 and new playstation dec 2013. but i would not mind waiting longer.
    for me the current graphics are ok, i would most of all like cheaper games.

  • bonker #34 3 years ago

    "In a lot of ways I think the ps3 is setting up the ps4, Sony will likely stick with the cell and I have read its pretty much the same coding for a 50 or 100 core cell as it is for a 16 core.. basically beef up the cell that is in the current machine stick a much faster graphics card in and pack the thing full of RAM and you have the ps4.. its going to be a lot cheaper for Sony as a lot of the hardware has already been developed, its going to be cheaper for dev's as they will have experince coding for the cell and will beable to make better games faster, and hopefully with a bit of luck, cheaper for us lot too! "

    I can't begin to think where Sony should go with their tech but many more cores is a loser. Generally speaking, you really are into diminishing returns once you get past 3 or 4 cores, certainly by the time you hit 8 or more you're going to have them choking each other as they fight to get control of the same data. Yes, you can have different cores doing very different tasks at the same time but there are only so many things going on at once that you can sensibly code for ...

    I expect MS to stick to just 5 or 6 cores in their next CPU which should be readily available by the likely 2011 launch date. Trying to guess Sony's PS4 date is an exercise in random number generating IMO ...

  • thesombrerokid #35 3 years ago

    @bonker

    not if you use a OpenCL or simliar structure

  • Bilbo_bobbins #36 3 years ago

    Ubisoft talk jibberish ! New consoles in the next two years, I don't think so.

    Be an idea to have Microsoft release a console then Sony 3 years later and so on, then we wouldn't have this fanboyism constantly going on. It's pathetic !

    ps... ps3 rocks, xbox smells like socks

  • Razz #37 3 years ago

    @ mazzi

    All videogames consoles are toys.

  • Thunderbolt #38 3 years ago

    PSP 2 - within 2 years

  • systems #39 3 years ago

    Had the "credit crunch" not happened, that Ubisoft guess would be right for a 6 year life of the 360 - you don't need to be a genius to work that out. It's a bit of an odd thing to say though on the day that 1400 staff from the Microsoft Entertainment division are possibly sacked though (i.e. Xbox, Zune, Windows Mobile division).
    [link url=http://kotaku.com/513 7601/bulk-of-microsofts-1400-job-cuts-to-strike-entertainmen t-division
    ]http://ko taku.com/5137601/bulk-of-micros...[/link]

    The 360 still has life left in it (cue RROD jokes from the usual suspects). PS3 is only just out of the "early adopter" phase and is pretty good now. The target audience of the Wii are more than happy with it. We need better games design, not a new set of hardware, but few will take a risk with games any more so all we see is the same old stuff updated every year.

  • bonker #40 3 years ago

    "@bonker

    not if you use a OpenCL or simliar structure "

    I'll refer you to the horrors of Teh C3ll programming for why that's not gonna happen ...

    Slightly faster clock speed, a couple or 3 more cores, another 512mb RAM and the XBOX 720 is done - I'll be stunned if it's much different to that (tho it'll also take a standard PC bluray drive as an add-on naturally) ...

  • Les #41 3 years ago

    "Well I would say making a profit and a year on year increase in sales does warrant what I said about he 360 going from strength to strength"

    But there was no increase in sales year on year for the full year (which is why MS focused on the last few months in their recent press release). Up until the price drop sales were disastrous. So part 1 of MS's mission is accomplished (trading in money now for increased installed base) but there's still the as important part 2 to realise (making those cheapskates buy enough games in the future to offset the more expensive money that was traded in).

    As for accounting profit, that doesn't mean much. Part of it will be no doubt caused by the periodic freefall of part of the 1.2 USD that was reserved for warranties (unless they're stupid they would have calculated the reserve based on a worst-case scenario so that the one-time expense is bigger but that's only relevant for a single period. In each subsequent period you can then book the unrealised warranties as a gain. As those are multiple periods, you can report more positive outcomes multiple times and as investors have a short memory it'll boost your stock). And then there's the fact that there are more business lines than xbox in the entertainment division (though I don't think Zune will be a particularly helpful one) so getting a clear picture on how xbox is doing financially is quite hard (for which of course there is a reason).

  • GamesConnoisseur #42 3 years ago

    Next gen consoles wont be coming as quick as some people think! It was said by now R&D should be done and dusted and feelers out. X360 was launched Nov 2005 and approaching fourth year and yet not a peep of the X720?!

    I believe the views that the costs of the hardware and software developments would need to be recouped at a reasonable level before they would embark on the next one. Also the divergence between PC and HD consoles is not yet that great, GTA4 and Fallout 3 as an examples.

    People would not rush out to buy the next gen consoles with being pretty much looking forward to HD eye candy games coming up.

    MS would certainly start and launch earlier than 2012 if X360 get surpassed and losing market share, but as doing reasonably well MS would want to keep increasing the marketshare before commiting to the next stage.

    Would also expect all the current gen to be well supported even when next gen consoles arrives. I dont see people abandoning Wii1 for Wii2 that quick.