Next Xbox, PS4 need to deliver "maximum amount of power" for consoles to "remain relevant for another generation," says Epic

Next-gen consoles like the next Xbox or PlayStation 4 need to bring their A-game in having their power maxxed out so consoles can "remain relevant for another generation," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has told GI International.

"Really, that's the reason consoles exist in the future," Sweeney said in a GDC interview. "They have an enormous amount of graphics processing power that delivers an experience that goes far beyond what you can get on a lighter weight device.

"Pushing forward, we measure that performance in teraflops, trillions of floating point operations per second. When I started programming, you had about one thousand floating point operations per second. Now we have, on nVidia's fastest hardware, two-and-a half to three teraflops.

"To push next-generation up to those levels will really ensure that they will remain relevant for another generation, even as other cool consumer devices like iPads and iPhones become more prevalent."

Epic showed off Unreal Engine 4 to a group of developers at GDC last week who had signed NDAs beforehand, with the company hopeful for a public showing later this year.

Get more on Sweeney's interview at the link.