Six or seven years has been the standard shelf life for most gaming systems. After that, a successor typically emerges and takes over with a few years of overlap between the two.

This generation of consoles is shaping up a little differently. Nintendo replaced the Wii U after a short and tumultuous few years and Sony and Microsoft each released their midlife upgrades (the One S/X and PS4 Pro) a little later than usual. Still, many people have been expecting a PS5 or Xbox Two announcement to becoming within the next couple years, but that might not be the case.

According to former Sony Interactive Entertainment President and Global CEO Andrew House, the PS4 probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. .

House, who stepped down from his position late last year, was understandably avoidant when it came to questions about the PS5 and his former company. Speaking with tech analyst Mike Vorhaus at the GamesBeat conference earlier this week, House said that despite the grim outlook of consoles in 2013 when the PS4 first launched, things have recovered nicely and consoles still have bright future.

He went on to say, “I’m very bullish on longer life cycles for consoles. […] Consoles are so under-represented and under-penetrated in so many markets around the globe. There’s so much potential.”

House went on to emphasize the fact that consoles are much more powerful and adaptable than they used to be and that just about everyone expects console lifespans to be longer now than they were in the past.

When it came to the future of discs in the gaming industry, House was less decisive. Although he believes that discs may be the key to tapping into developing markets, he also harped on the significance of digital downloads and streaming.

With House’s comments and the fact that the One X, Pro and Switch are still hot commodities, it seems more than likely that we won’t see a new console until 2020 at the absolute earliest. With at least a couple years more of development to go, it’s anyone’s guess what the next generation of consoles might look like.