PS4, Xbox One will be “bigger than last-gen,” says Riccitiello

By Stephany Nunneley

Former EA CEO John Riccitiello believes PS4 and Xbox One will be “bigger than the last generation.”

Speaking in an interview with GI International, Riccitiello feels the console will benefit from ease of use with the average consumer, and the fact that the systems are more connected.

“I think they’ll be bigger than the last generation, actually,” he said. “The last generation can be described as supercharged engines – they had super-powerful boxes. But the entirety of the online communication and being able to connect to your friends and all that stuff, a seamless, smooth, social experience, was just masking tape – barely put together.

“Remember that this was eight years ago. Most people were just moving on from their 28k modems. Now these are fully functioning, fully integrated online computers connected to the best screen in your house. You put a super computer under your TV, plug it in with one connection and it works. It knows who you are, it knows what your games are and it’s unbelievably simple; it’s not like PC plug and play, it’s just plug and play.

“The next generation of consoles are going to be a massive improvement on user interface. So I think that ‘s going to matter.”

Despite how well he thinks the new consoles will be received by the consumer, he feels tablets are the future. That being said, he feels consoles and touch devices will be able to “happily coexist.”

“I think touch changed everything, I think tablets are incredible,” Riccitiello said. “I think they’re probably… one of the best ways to game out there. I’m still a believer in the next generation of consoles but another billion and a half people came into the industry as a consequence of mobile and I think that’s a pretty cool place to focus.

“I’m a gamer, I like games, I like people who build them, and I’m going to continue to work with them.”

You can read more of the interview through the link above, or just go over some of the highlights we pulled for you, such as his thoughts on: Battlefield 4 finally winning over Call of Duty; the risks triple-A publishers face; and his distaste for developers who only get into the industry to make a quick buck.