Crytek founder and CEO Cevat Yerli says the next generation of consoles from industry heavyweights such as Microsoft (Xbox 720) and Sony (PS4) is long overdue.
“The current generations are drying out and the longer we wait for the next generation of consoles, the higher the likelihood that they could fall behind tablets in terms of being the first thing people reach for when the time comes to play games,” Yerli told VG247 during a recent interview.
“Tablets are putting pressure on the gaming industry, and taking over in some ways, so that should be kept in mind.”
In addition, Yerli commented on the evolution of online gaming, noting that Crytek is more than ready to embrace the social aspect of the multiplayer experience.
“My perspective of next generation gaming is that playing with friends, and playing on multiple devices and having complimentary experiences with them, will be a big part of the process,” he explained.
“I think, generally, people are playing shorter cycles in games, and session-based games are going to be key. I think, ultimately, the word ‘online’ will be extended to embrace ‘social’ as well.”
Yerli also discussed the future of CryENGINE, as well as how it stacks up to rival Unreal Engine 4.
“We think Unreal Engine 4 has done a good job to catch up, but nothing is there that surprised us and we still believe CryENGINE 3 remains the benchmark .[In regards to CryENGINE], we have not clearly defined when, or if, CryENGINE 4 will be released.
“[This is[ because the architecture of CryENGINE 3 is so forward-looking that we think of it as having been next generation ready for some years now. We’re already able to deliver next generation graphics sufficient for game developers, and we’re going to update CryENGINE 3 constantly to improve it, but we [simply] don’t see a necessity for the next version now,” he added.
