The PlayStation 6 and Xbox Project Helix generation is seemingly right around the corner, but it has become difficult to get excited about the future of gaming amid the soaring prices of gaming hardware caused by the AI craze and multiple waves of layoffs and studio closures. According to former Naughty Dog and Rocksteady artist and art director Del Walker, the new console generation from Sony and Microsoft will only make matters worse for all, so much so that they wish the new consoles wouldn't release in this decade.
"The next generation of consoles will cause more bloodshed," Walker wrote on X, responding to recent industry reports of next-gen hardware manufacturing cost spikes. "The cost of game development has never gone down when a new console arises, it always just adds complexity, cost, and dev time, but are the games truly more enjoyable? Debatable."
No matter how much someone loves modern gaming, it is impossible not to notice how stagnant video games are becoming. There are still some innovative games getting released, indies especially, but most AAA games tend to play it very safe due to the economic difficulties of launching new IPs with new ideas. According to Walker, this isn't going to change with the PlayStation 6 generation, for a very specific reason: reduced hardware limitations. "Limitations are where the best magic happens when making a game, and less of it causes waste. When costs go up, you get less winners and more layoffs."
For these reasons, Walker wished that the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Project Helix would "never step foot into this decade." An extremely harsh view, but one that is easy to agree with given everything that has been going on in the video game industry over the past few years.
Ffurther duscussing the stagnation of modern video games, Del Walker made a rather clear example to highlight why technical limitations are not the only reason why this is happening. "If your meal must cater to everyone, it cannot be spicy, it cannot be sweet, it can only be 'inoffensive'. We can't even have puzzles without a sidekick character blurting out the answers now because of this," Walker said. It is difficult not to think about many offenders in this regard, from Sony Santa Monica's God of War Ragnarok to the recent The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, where the player is not given any time to think through a puzzle's solution before it is given to them by sidekicks.
This is also why the Ubisoft open-world formula has become predominant. The checklist formula "certainly justifies the outrageous cost of the development if you just keep adding toppings. Crimson Desert kind of proved that if your game has everything in it, at the very least, people will notice it."
Although it is easy to agree with Del Walker's statements, it's extremely unlikely that the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Project Helix will not be released in the next three years. While the market conditions are extremely challenging, and both have a very high chance of launching with hefty $1000+ price tags, delaying them would only create even more issues for hardware manufacturers who will likely prefer to launch to low sales than to have no sales at all for products they have heavily invested in, although it remains to be see how they will convince gamers to upgrade from their current systems.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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