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When it comes to graphical capabilities, current gen consoles lag quite behind the capabilities of a modern gaming PC, thanks to the fact that the Xbox 360 released well over seven years ago. The graphical gap between the platforms has been growing wider in recent years and now, according to Crytek, consoles have no hope of catching up now or in the future.

With the visually impressive Crysis 3 - the third installment in a series that's continually pushed the bounds of video game graphics - releasing today, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli shared his thoughts on consoles, stating that they will never be able to come close to the high spec performance of today's or the future's gaming PCs.

In an chatting with Eurogamer, Yerli explains:

"Without breaking NDAs that are in place, realistically, from purely a price point perspective, it is impossible. It's impossible to package $2000-3000 into a mainstream, let's say $500 console. I'm not saying they are $500 consoles. They may launch a console at $2000, but the consumer pricing is usually much lower than that. So, given consumer pricing, and given the cost of production of a gamer PC and the amount of watt of power it needs, which is like a fridge, it's impossible."

Rumors in January pointed towards a $400 price range for the next-gen consoles (further supported by this week's rumor of a $400 PS4), putting them a little higher than the Deluxe Wii U bundle, but significantly lower than the PS3 and Xbox 360 launch prices.

"If you predict how hardware evolves at the current speed of evolution, and then take consumer pricing evolution, already two years ago you could see, whatever launches in 2013 or 2014 or 2015, will never beat a PC again."

Yerli raises a good point about the price point of components being too high to realistically offer groundbreaking tech in a $400 package. It is entirely possible to build a competent PC for $400 but it wouldn't be able to perform with the capabilities of next-gen consoles. You would need to spend far more than what the normal price range of a newly released console is to get comparably graphical quality. The consoles could be sold at a loss to recoup costs in software and service subscriptions, and there's the obvious discounts in mass production, but the rumored price points do lend credence to the idea that gaming PCs will continue to lead the charge in game power, even if it is quite a bit more costly for the user.

Yerli also isn't shy in admitting that Crysis 3 will be on par with next-gen consoles and that their in-house CryENGINE 3 is built for the next-gen.

"I made a joke at one point saying, 'we're going to melt PCs,' and I think we are going to melt PCs again. People want that, and we'll deliver that. With Crysis 2 we tried to make the spec available to as many PC gamers as possible. Then we heard back from the loudest group, which was enthusiast PC gamers, 'our PCs are running this game at 200 frames. What the hell? We should be running at 30 frames.'"

"Crytek is probably the only company where you read forums and YouTube, people are excited if they can't run the game. I don't think it's like that at any other game company... Our graphics programmers said, 'we're going to give them a game they can't run any more."

Though Yerli is under Non-Disclosure Agreement from both Microsoft and Sony regarding next-gen tech, he does drop some interesting points about the specs of next gen consoles and how they could (or maybe cannot) hold up. Sony's press event is this Wednesday and we'll be there. It won't be long to wait and see what the future holds.

Do you think that it is truly "impossible" for consoles to catch up to PCs or will cloud gaming make such a notion obsolete? Will you be upgrading your PC or buying one of the new consoles? Let us know in the comments below!

Crysis 3 is now available in North America and out February 22 in Europe for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: Eurogamer