Is this the last of consoles as we know ?

richymcdermott

With signs of the console market is shrinking in numbers , what are the odds the wii u, ps4 and new xbox being the last of consoles.

I dont think we be seen similar numbers of users like the wii and ps2 had.

CrazyRabbit

No chance....unfortunately.

VinLieger

richymcdermott wrote: »

With signs of the console market is shrinking in numbers , what are the odds the wii u, ps4 and new xbox being the last of consoles.

I dont think we be seen similar numbers of users like the wii and ps2 had.

Well the wii was an aberration, the number of consoles nintendo sold does not directly relate to what could be called "users", i havent gone near my one in at least 2 years and i know many others who would say the same.

Sephiroth_dude

richymcdermott wrote: »

With signs of the console market is shrinking in numbers , what are the odds the wii u, ps4 and new xbox being the last of consoles.

I dont think we be seen similar numbers of users like the wii and ps2 had.

Wheres your source for this ?

richymcdermott

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Wheres your source for this ?

Was reading alot of articles talk about it .

So i thought i just Get feedback here

Pushtrak

From what I'm seeing, facebook games, smartphone apps are being cited amongst the reasons for why the console market will shrink. I find such arguments very unconvincing. You just aren't going to get the same kind of gameplay and experiences from such stuff as you are with a console or an expensive PC, and people are more often going to gravitate towards the console options.

I was reading an article that was going over each gen in terms of hardware sales, and that number is going up*. Yes, Sony sold less this gen than previous, but if you add up the three, the sales are a lot higher than in the previous generations. This has been a consistent trend.

I don't think smartphones, tablets or facebook is going to change the landscape. Steambox, I don't think will get there either. Hundreds of millions? Might even break a billion. If it goes beyond that, colour me very wrong and surprised. Dedicated PC? Again, as I said, no. I don't think it'll trump consoles.

*This is going back a while so it'll be hard to find. But I'll try.

o1s1n

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

No chance....unfortunately.

...unfortunately?

ebbsy

Ive been playing the PS2 and Megadrive a lot lately, good or bad thing ? Am I getting ould ?

Whats turned me off the latest consoles and handhelds is the lack of backwards compatibility, GBA games could be played on DS that was great, its all being killed off.

For sure we will never see anything likePS2 sales again, and with the recession we are in how many €600 consoles would they sell ?

ancapailldorcha

Was the PS2 really €600??

Anyway, I read somewhere once that female gamers outnumber the men now. Although that's mainly things like Angry Birds rather than premium titles. What's really putting me off consoles is this move to prevent people from owning titles like the previous generations. Companies seem more interested in letting you stream as opposed to selling hard copies and digital downloads. I imagine physical media still has time left but with the popularity of Netflix and LoveFilm, it seems like a matter of time to me before we stop owning the games we buy.

Sephiroth_dude

richymcdermott wrote: »

Was reading alot of articles talk about it .

So i thought i just Get feedback here

Nah there will always be a market for them IMO ,it'll be a sad day if consoles ever did cease to exist.

Pushtrak

ebbsy wrote: »

For sure we will never see anything likePS2 sales again, and with the recession we are in how many €600 consoles would they sell ?

Developers are more likely to go multiplatform than they were before. Before the start of this gen, Bethesda had been an Xbox exclusive (in terms of consoles) as had BioWare. They were two strong selling points to me. They are multiplat now.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Was the PS2 really €600??

You mean PS3?
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2007/0323/87108-sony/

Anyway, I read somewhere once that female gamers outnumber the men now.

If you count facebook 'games' like farmville, et cetera.

Companies seem more interested in letting you stream as opposed to selling hard copies and digital downloads.

Well, going by this gen, they can charge a set price that is as high as retail, and stays much higher than retail without the middle man costs. So, it is clear to see why they'd want it.

Sephiroth_dude

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Was the PS2 really €600??

Anyway, I read somewhere once that female gamers outnumber the men now. Although that's mainly things like Angry Birds rather than premium titles. What's really putting me off consoles is this move to prevent people from owning titles like the previous generations. Companies seem more interested in letting you stream as opposed to selling hard copies and digital downloads. I imagine physical media still has time left but with the popularity of Netflix and LoveFilm, it seems like a matter of time to me before we stop owning the games we buy.

My brother payed 500 for one shortly after it was released.

ancapailldorcha

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

My brother payed 500 for one shortly after it was released.

Didn't realise they were that expensive.

Fnz

Depends on the internet infrastructure in 8-10 years time. Jeff Cannata on Weekend Confirmed podcast was saying that, in areas with Google fiber rollout, the internet connection was no longer the performance bottleneck when streaming media.

Granted, I don't know how tech-savvy he is, but it points towards streaming games from powerful, off-site hardware rather than another generation of traditional consoles.

Varik

ebbsy wrote: »

I

For sure we will never see anything like PS2 sales again,

Depends what way you look at it, I doubt we'll see a single console have the 160-170 million the PS2 had but when you look at the rest of the consoles at that time they have a combined sales of a bit over 200m to date.

The PS3 & 360 have 150-160 between them and even if some people don't count the Wii sales as bought by legitimate gamers there's still 99m of them, While a lot of Wiis are just gathering dusk and the value is likely no a good measure of teh market size I'd say that out of the 99m there are still a lot of fans who are looking at the Wii U and beyond for Nintys first party games.

Pushtrak

Fnz wrote: »

Depends on the internet infrastructure in 8-10 years time. Jeff Cannata on Weekend Confirmed podcast was saying that, in areas with Google fiber rollout, the internet connection was no longer the performance bottleneck when streaming media.

While that is one aspect that is being dealt with, the other side is still of concern. Suppose you decide to digitally download all the games on the PS4, nextbox or Wii U. Suppose the follow on gen doesn't allow backwards compatibility. Or the one after that. At some point, having the boxed version of the game and the console is going to be preferable.

Though, of course, this isn't ideal in the same way as before. You look back at the earlier gens and the consoles would last you for life. This gen though, the 360 and PS3 are prone to problems, so the risk of them breaking down is a concern. Having a boxed version isn't going to fix that, but at least you could replace a console.

Granted, I don't know how tech-savvy he is, but it points towards streaming games from powerful, off-site hardware rather than another generation of traditional consoles.

And as soon as those streaming sources are gone, it'll be like the next year in certain franchises with the servers shut down.

Edit: Well said, Varik.

Antar Bolaeisk

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Companies seem more interested in letting you stream as opposed to selling hard copies and digital downloads. I imagine physical media still has time left but with the popularity of Netflix and LoveFilm, it seems like a matter of time to me before we stop owning the games we buy.

Just look at the PC to see where consoles are heading. I can't remember the last big release that wasn't tied to some form of account be it Steam, uPlay or Origin.

Pushtrak

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Just look at the PC to see where consoles are heading. I can't remember the last big release that wasn't tied to some form of account be it Steam, uPlay or Origin.

There isn't a 1:1 relationship like you suggest. Those online services are available to try to combat piracy. Consoles have this problem, too but nowhere near on the same scale. Also, there is only going to be the one provider on consoles for digital - the manufacturer of the console, not different developers offering their own front end service.

Tom_Cruise

It could be argued that consoles will be even more common in the coming years.

deathrider

Didn't realise there was a shink in sales for the recent gen. I can't remember the last time I walked into someone's house where they didn't have and 360, PS3, or Wii.

Pushtrak

deathrider wrote: »

Didn't realise there was a shink in sales for the recent gen.

There aren't when you take the total number of console sales of this entire gen vs previous ones. Each generation is an increase on the previous. The point being made is that sales are slowing down year on year. Which should really be a given, I'd have figured.

I don't know how console sales slumped in previous generations compared to this one, but total numbers of consoles is high. I don't know if you've read through the thread, but really, it is talking about smartphones, tablets, facebook as where people are going instead of console gaming. I'll leave it to your judgement whether you think there is merit to such a point, but to me I disregard such thinking as nonsense.

CrazyRabbit

o1s1n wrote: »

...unfortunately?

Yeah...so developers could focus on making more games for PC's. :P

nesf

Pushtrak wrote: »

I don't know if you've read through the thread, but really, it is talking about smartphones, tablets, facebook as where people are going instead of console gaming. I'll leave it to your judgement whether you think there is merit to such a point, but to me I disregard such thinking as nonsense.

There is some merit to it, I mean there has always been a "casual" console gaming brigade and a more hardcore audience. There's something similar in PC gaming between people who (only) play browser games on what are home office PCs and people that have parted with a nice bit of money (read: a decent graphics card) so they can play more dedicated games.

I don't think people are arguing that the more serious gamers are moving over to tablets, but I do think saying that more casual gamers are doing this because well, playing casual games is a lot more fun on a tablet than on a PC or console for most people, makes a lot more sense.

corcaigh07

no way is it the last of the consoles, the market is massive now compared to the pre-playstation 2 days.

Good chance it is the last of the physical media consoles though. The landscape is certainly changing, never seen such mainstream support for PC gaming and rightly so. At the moment, it looks the better option to me over the PS4 and NextXbox and I have never seriously considered picking PC over console before.

Pushtrak

nesf wrote: »

There is some merit to it, I mean there has always been a "casual" console gaming brigade and a more hardcore audience.

There's a lot to these simple ideas of casual gamer and hardcore gamer. Perspectives on these things is interesting. I mean, what is a casual gamer? I'd see a person who plays just say the latest FIFA with friends for example is a casual gamer. Are casual games those with mass market appeal? I don't see the people who buy Call of Duty and its ilk of jumping to smart phones or the like. So, what then, is a casual gamer who is likely to switch? Well, I guess people who 'play' stuff like Wii Fit or minigame collections.

The kind of people who'd play the sort of casual games that would be motivated to a move to smart phones as a substitute to console gaming would be very small indeed.

I'd like to hear your take on casual games and casual gamers. With regard to those that would move to other devices, and if it applies, those who might not be so motivated to go to something else, and would stick to consoles.

ancapailldorcha

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Just look at the PC to see where consoles are heading. I can't remember the last big release that wasn't tied to some form of account be it Steam, uPlay or Origin.

I know, but it's really stepped up in the last few years (or is it me?).

Amirani

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I know, but it's really stepped up in the last few years (or is it me?).

That is likely strongly correlated with the increased preference for digital downloads.

o1s1n

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Yeah...so developers could focus on making more games for PC's. :P

In all seriousness though, if console gaming did vanish in the morning, what developers would suddenly shift over to PC games that aren't developing for them already?

How would it change the PC gaming market?

Might result in some less shoddy PC ports, but sure they can be easily fixed with patches anyway.

Only one thing will come of consoles vanishing - and that is consoles (and their related markets) vanishing. Which thankfully, is something which won't ever be happening.

Ultimately I think we'll just end up with a technology merger. Similar to what happened to portable tech and phones. Consoles will go further and further towards being general media centres, which will in affect just be a PC under the TV. Sure the current generation is pretty much doing that already.

nesf

Pushtrak wrote: »

I'd like to hear your take on casual games and casual gamers. With regard to those that would move to other devices, and if it applies, those who might not be so motivated to go to something else, and would stick to consoles.

Part of it is an economic thing, I already own a phone/tablet why would I spend more money on another gaming platform? If gaming is a way to kill time rather than a serious hobby for you I think this argument makes perfect sense. I'll hold my hand up as someone who buys more gaming platforms than I get around to playing but I don't think I'm in the majority. Another thing is kids, consoles and especially console games are expensive. An Android tablet (or even an iPad mini) works out a lot cheaper in the long run for younger kids. The Wii used to be the go-to console for a lot of parents wanting to bring some computer gaming into their kids' lives because it was so much cheaper than the alternatives a few years back, now it's more likely to be Daddy's iPad or whatever.

The other group are people who play games casually, in PC terms this means using ordinary PCs to play browser or small indie games. In console terms it's more XBox Marketplace games and similar. Most of the people I know like this (console wise) are siblings or partners or housemates of someone with a console rather than a console owner themselves. For these people switching to a more multipurpose device again makes sense. I mean if I get my kicks from Peggle (not dissing the game, I quite like it), I can as easily play it on the iPad.


The big console group that won't shift are the FPS players. Have you tried playing an FPS on a tablet? (actually, I cannot understand how people play one with a controller tbh )

Sledgejammer

If internet infrastructure progresses sufficiently I think cloud gaming will ultimately kill off the consoles, at least we we know them (~400 dollar a go super powered loss leading monsters). It makes far far too much economic sense for developers to embrace it if it becomes feasible. I also think it could, as a result, usher in a real boom period in gaming sales and be a very good thing for the industry.

Retr0gamer

I really do not want to see Consoles go completely digital. It works on PC because it's an open system with lots of competition. On consoles you are tied to one service provider and they can charge what they want. XBLA and PSN are really poor value for money.