This found over at Gamasutra.
St. John claims that Sony has announced it will not make a new console for 10 years. He also says that when asking representatives at Sony and Microsoft who is the head of the next console development, they will not name a name.
The major reason neither Sony nor Microsoft will make another console, according to St. John, is because the business does not make financial sense. It’s not news to anyone in the game industry that current generation hardware is sold at a loss to the company.
And at Microsoft, that business model is unlikely to float any longer now that Bill Gates has retired and Steve Ballmer — whom St. John calls “a money guy” — is leading the company. Consoles just aren’t profitable, he says, and the motive to repeat those failures just isn’t there.
On the other hand, Townsend and Stevenson argue that the install base is already there. With millions of Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s already hooked up in people’s homes, it already is an immovable element of the modern living room. Game consoles will drive the high-definition entertainment experience, says Stevenson.