THQ: The last thing the industry needs now are new consoles

THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell has said the industry doesn't need a new console generation at the moment, because Move and Kinect will help extend each respective console's life cycle while expanding the gaming audience.

Speaking with IGN, Farrell  said the "last thing" the industry needs now is "new hardware" because not only are current games "stunning enough", but the model of "another $1000 box that the hardware guys have to subsidize" and software developers have to "spend even more money" developing for just doesn't work.

"To have an extended cycle with a broader audience I think, strategically, is exactly the right way to go, and Move and Kinect are both designed to do that," he said. "The market will decide if one or both of those will work, but I love the concept of both hardware guys trying to broaden the audience beyond just the core."

Farrell is also of the belief that it wouldn't be "good value" for the gamer to have to invest in another console at this point and time, adding further that it would be hard to improve upon graphics and sound as it stands today.

"Better graphics? They're pretty darn good now. Better sound? No. Gameplay? Probably not. So I think the ways games are evolving now is really a direction we're going. Where it's going to be is in the play experience; richer stories, better characters, production values that are much more like movies.

"I think that's the direction, rather than technology and graphics. I think those days are over."

THQ is expected to releases its Q2 2011 earnings report on November 3.

Thanks, TheDutchSlayer.

[pic]