Speaking at the GamesBeat 2009 Games Conference in San Francisco, Pachter stressed up that the hardware battle will have to stop and the real business war will be fought with software:

“[…]all three console makers will be reluctant to release any subsequent consoles — in the future it’ll be more about a standard delivery platfrom. Why? Because there’s no money in it for them. And because the third party publishers simply won’t allow it. "[Third party publishers] are not going to support a PS4 or Xbox 720,"

Pachter’s point of view was not shared by Colin Sebastian (Lazard Capital Markets), nor by David Cole (DFC Intelligence). Both analysts are convinced that a new wave of consoles will be hitting the market by 2012.

It may indeed be so, but, with games failing to evolve significantly, one would have to wonder if consumers and developers would allow themselves to be lured to another platform.