Eidos product acquisition director Ian Livingstone believes next-generation hardware sales will be much more evenly split between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz he said, "It's going to be a much closer race and significantly, I think Nintendo, with the Wii console, is going to be right back up in the thick of it."
Livingstone praises the unique gameplay-focused direction Nintendo is taking with Wii and notes, "It's quite interesting that they've decided not to go head-to-head with Microsoft and Sony, with the high quality interactive cinematic action adventure games; they've gone for gameplay over graphics instead. I think that's quite an interesting move and it could be very successful for them."
He believes Wii removes a massive weight from the shoulders of developers. "To be able to create games that are based on gameplay rather than these intensive graphical productions, is a great opportunity for everybody," he suggested.
Still, Livingstone admits that no one truly knows who will win the next-generation hardware battle. However, he's comforted by the fact that Eidos is in an ideal position to release games for and profit from all platforms.