One of the ex-top people of Microsoft who used to run the show for the Xbox world in Europe has made a prediction that consoles will probably be gone within the next 5 to 10 years.

Quote from Eurogamer:
Sandy Duncan, the former boss of Xbox Europe, has said he believes consoles will disappear very soon as everything gets "virtualised".

Speaking to ThatVideoGameBlog Duncan said, "The industry is fundamentally driven by technology. I think dedicated games devices, i.e. consoles and handhelds, will die [out] in the next five to ten years."

Duncan was with Microsoft for 15 years before leaving to co-found YoYo Games. Having established the Xbox business in Europe he knows a few things about launching new hardware, and observed there are huge risks involved. He predicted that as companies attempt to reduce these, there will be "a definite 'convergence' of other devices such as set-top boxes".

"There's hardly any technology difference between some hard disc video recorders and an Xbox 360, for example," Duncan stated.

"In fact in five to ten years I don’t think you’ll have any box at all under your TV; most of this stuff will be "virtualised" as web services by your content provider."

Source: Eurogamer

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