Is the console going to become extinct or evolve?

[ooStevo]

No, it hasn't. Where are your sources to denote your claim??

There is an interesting topic over on Games Industry.biz regarding the lack of growth within the console market.



Some quotes from the article:

• Sony revealed that it will miss its target of shipping 25 million PS5 consoles in the financial year by four million (at least). The PS5, which is now in full supply, is trending behind the PS4.
• COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki talked about how releasing more PS5 games on PC was part of an 'aggressive' plan to grow margins.
• The console business hasn't really grown in 20 years. Just under 180 million PS2 and Xbox consoles were sold during that generation. That dropped slightly to just over 170 million during the PS3 and 360 era, and then we're back up to around 180 million for PS4.
• One of the reasons the Xbox/PlayStation market hasn't grown is that there are too many gamers 'ageing out' of consoles, and there's not enough young people coming in at the other end of the funnel.

The last point above perfectly illustrates what i said i.e the younger generation are mostly playing Mobile/Tablets and PC. By contrast, consoles are seen as an old man platform.

Richard Leadbetter from DF also points out the console market isn't growing in a recent DF Direct (@1:58:02)

PC gaming is as expensive as you want it to be. And you don't need to be on the bleeding edge to enjoy either.

You could buy a Steam Deck (or build/buy a gaming PC new or 2nd hand) and still have access to a lots of PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo (emulated) content. As i stated above, buying all 3 consoles would cost over a £1000+ alone, and that's without even buying a game, accessories or adding in subscriptions. Buying all 3 consoles is out of reach and unrealistic for many.

Point is, the console ecosystem isn't cheap and can cost way more long term than PC gaming. i.e games are more expensive, online subscriptions, extra accessories, etc.

Oh and physical won't be forever on consoles. So you'll inevitably be forced to buy digital.



Consoles always were and always will be a bad investment in the long term due to the fact the consumer has very little control of what is basically a closed platform. Game preservation is almost non-existent and very limited.

Also, how many digital stores on consoles have closed due to the hardware being obsolete. Loads!!. You can't buy games digitally for the Wii, DS, 3DS. The Xbox 360 store closes on July 2024. And Sony only kept the PS3 store open due to pressure from the media, though that store will close at some point too and future console stores will inevitably follow their predecessors.

You can't be that naïve to expect PS4/PS5 games to run on PS6. All it takes is for Sony to go with a different CPU/GPU from another vendor. You're basically hoping/praying at this point PS4/PS5 games run on PS6. Nothing is guaranteed.

Does all your PS1, PS2, PS3 accessories work on your PS5 out of the box? Aye, of course they don't! And your old PS/Xbox/Nintendo games have limited, to no compatibility, in future hardware iterations.

Therefore, taking all of the points mentioned above, consoles always were and always will be a bad investment in the long term as the PC platform is in a much better place to deal with all of the above.



Yes they have, but the realities of this are amplified and are more a threat to consoles. In the future, the only platform you'll be playing with dedicated hardware is possibly on the PC (also due to the fact the PC is needed for productivity, content creation, etc, so hardware will still be manufactured).

Do you really think console manufactures are still going to make hardware once most of their customer base are playing their content either on Streaming services, PC or Mobile/Tablets.

Of course they won't as it doesn't make business or financial sense to do so!

I stopped watching these idiots a long while ago. Looking in minute detail about a few pixels,and a shadow or texture that is slightly less than the competition. Oh no X game dropped 5fps in this bit so it's rubbish. Fu*k off .

*They all look like basement dwelling harry hoofters anaw. Get tae fu*k ya dossers.

Edit 2* Especially the middle guy from the thumbnail. He looks like he's a few clicks away from getting his door kicked in. He doesn't look like he has any balls so interprate that however you like.

 

[Noxia]

PS5 was my last console, but I've generally always had a console as a secondary gaming device. I don't think they'll go anywhere soon which is good as they're an affordable option for many people, they just don't suit my needs anymore and that's fine.
If my circumstances were different and it's the only option I had then I'd settle for a console no problem.

 

[BowdonUK]

I think gaming will eventually evolve into terminal gaming.

I've recently got a PS Portal, and it works perfectly. I have a FTTP connection so lag is way less than using copper lines ie FTTC etc.

Imagine a world were we can play any game on any device, as long as we have at least an FTTP or 5G connection.

I think consoles will be the first to go down this path.

 

[chaparral]

they're only giving an horrifically dumb generation of PC gamers what they want which is style over substance, fancy graphics over gameplay.

I think part of the problem is what gamers expect these days for gameplay
It not like back in the day when gamers were happy to spend many hours playing really simple games like Pong, space invaders, Pac man, asteroids, Breakout etc

I still remember spending many hours per day playing games on my Binatone

Maybe some games these days are just so complicated & awkard or time consuming that they lose all that playability of the old very simple just pickup and play games

 

[Radec]

I think gaming will eventually evolve into terminal gaming.

I've recently got a PS Portal, and it works perfectly. I have a FTTP connection so lag is way less than using copper lines ie FTTC etc.

Imagine a world were we can play any game on any device, as long as we have at least an FTTP or 5G connection.

I think consoles will be the first to go down this path.

isn't that what xbox are going for? more of an access point into games.

 

[unwashed potato!]

honestly i'm shocked at this thread. unless kids are literaly paid to be outside away from a console all the time, there is no chance consoles will die. they are the future of gaming. pc's surely are only becoming less and less popular each day. it feels like it went like this for pcs. zero in houses. some houses had one pc awkwardly placed in a dining room as no house had a room specifically for a desktop pc. pc's started to have their own room within houses. kids were bought pcs and had them in their room, houses now had mutiple per house. laptops started to replace 1/2 pc's within the house. smart phones were born. tablets were born. consoles became good and games primarily designed for consoles.

houses no longer needed multiple desktop pcs. houses drop down to 1 pc, connected to a printer. houses drop down to just a laptop, houses drop down to nothing.

from what i understand, withing the uk gaming sales are bigger than music sales, so someone is buying and playing, and surely it's almost all entirely on console.

this is based on fairly big assumptions/observations. one of the biggest observation i notice is that almost every single house i go to has nothing but smart phones and consoles. there isn't even a spot any more where a pc would go.

 

[ltron]

My only recent impression of cloud gaming is from Game Pass Ultimate on PC; I recently tried Forza Horizon 5 streamed to my PC and was left profoundly disappointed. Latency was decent but visually it looked like a low bitrate YouTube video. I have a 1Gbps FTTP connection and my PC is wired to my router so the conditions couldn't be more ideal unless I was sat on the roof of MS' data centre. On a smaller display like a phone or tablet when away from home, I could see it being acceptable and convenient, but it's absolutely not a replacement for actual hardware.

Cloud gaming certainly has a future as it makes gaming accessible anywhere and to almost anyone without devs having to cater for a multitude of hardware variations or make games specifically for a handheld market, but there's clearly still plenty of technical hurdles to get over and the uptake of lower-latency, more reliable fibre connections will need to increase first before it becomes a viable alternative to a gaming PC or a console in the home. Personally, I'm more than happy to continue owning the actual hardware even if that means paying a premium for it in future.

XBOX cloud gaming is terrible in both image quality and latency compared to GeForce NOW Ultimate (at least where I am). The free version is much closer in quality to XBOX, although I'd say the free version of GFN is still better.

 

[ltron]

I tried playing Skate 3 via Xbox cloud, completely unplayable due to the latency. Game streaming sucks

XBOX cloud sucks, Nvidia GeForce NOW Ultimate doesn't in my experience. The latter now even has GSync support.

 

[ltron]

Looking in minute detail about a few pixels,and a shadow or texture that is slightly less than the competition.

People like me love this stuff .

It sounds like you could put up with cloud gaming's flaws without noticing them .

 

[ltron]

one of the biggest observation i notice is that almost every single house i go to has nothing but smart phones and consoles. there isn't even a spot any more where a pc would go.

Yes, we are PC enthusiasts so we kept our desktops without realising that everyone else moved on and how small a minority we were (we still seem to make Nvidia money though).

 

[ooStevo]

People like me love this stuff .

It sounds like you could put up with cloud gaming's flaws without noticing them .

I'm actually very sensitive to frame rate,but zooming in 40x just to see a bit of pixelation is ridiculous.
Not all of their videos are rubbish. The Bayonetta 360 Vs PS3 highlights the 360 version as vastly superior,so that's useful information. Looking for a shadow that's not quite as sharp is stupid.

 

[Rroff]

unless kids are literaly paid to be outside away from a console all the time, there is no chance consoles will die. they are the future of gaming. pc's surely are only becoming less and less popular each day. it feels like it went like this for pcs.

I dunno - in the last couple of years or so I'm seeing a lot less interest in consoles with the under 20 year olds at work with mobile/handheld gaining significant attention and even PC gaming seeing a bit of an up tick in interest albeit with unrealistic expectations as to budget and performance. Compared to the recent years before that where for that age group PC gaming was almost invisible to and everything was console.

 

[unwashed potato!]

I dunno - in the last couple of years or so I'm seeing a lot less interest in consoles with the under 20 year olds at work with mobile/handheld gaining significant attention and even PC gaming seeing a bit of an up tick in interest albeit with unrealistic expectations as to budget and performance. Compared to the recent years before that where for that age group PC gaming was almost invisible to and everything was console.

Obviously both are anecdotel so we need to take that into account. If you work in a place to notice that's certainly interesting what you've seen, but I'd also say it could well just be you paying more attention to it than normal, especially as before it'd not be notable that someone is buying a pc back 10/15 years ago, but as this reduces, it becomes more notable and may make you feel you're seeing an uptick but what you're actually seeing is a reduction and then an awareness of when the reduced event happens, if that maekse sense. At least that's how I'm going to ignore your views so I can continue mine

I'd be interested to see a poll in GD that had something along the lines of "do your friends have PCs visible in their house, and if they do, do you know if they regularly use them"

Its almost sad to think if PCs are in a decline with the wider public, simply because this is the best time to own one. Us tech folk that know something about a computer have suffered through the years where every time you visit a family member, you're having to sanitise the pc, uninstall all the rubbish, do a full reset to remove the viruses, but now PCs are so simple and much stronger and if not harder to break, at least easier to fix.

 

[Rroff]

Obviously both are anecdotel so we need to take that into account. If you work in a place to notice that's certainly interesting what you've seen, but I'd also say it could well just be you paying more attention to it than normal, especially as before it'd not be notable that someone is buying a pc back 10/15 years ago, but as this reduces, it becomes more notable and may make you feel you're seeing an uptick but what you're actually seeing is a reduction and then an awareness of when the reduced event happens, if that maekse sense. At least that's how I'm going to ignore your views so I can continue mine

I'd be interested to see a poll in GD that had something along the lines of "do your friends have PCs visible in their house, and if they do, do you know if they regularly use them"

Its almost sad to think if PCs are in a decline with the wider public, simply because this is the best time to own one. Us tech folk that know something about a computer have suffered through the years where every time you visit a family member, you're having to sanitise the pc, uninstall all the rubbish, do a full reset to remove the viruses, but now PCs are so simple and much stronger and if not harder to break, at least easier to fix.

There is also the question of demographic - we tend to attract a certain type rather than necessarily seeing a broad view of the population but still. I guess handheld, etc. is also still console gaming just moving away from the xbox/PS type console.

A few years back though any conversation with that age group and PC gaming was largely seen as something old people did, lately been a fair few conversations where people of that age want a kick ass gaming PC - but they want like a 14900K and 64GB of "ultra fast" RAM and a 4090 but without spending more than the cost of a Xbox or PS5...

 

[xaldub]

I dunno - in the last couple of years or so I'm seeing a lot less interest in consoles with the under 20 year olds at work with mobile/handheld gaining significant attention and even PC gaming seeing a bit of an up tick in interest albeit with unrealistic expectations as to budget and performance. Compared to the recent years before that where for that age group PC gaming was almost invisible to and everything was console.

According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft surveys suggest that younger generations have shifted more toward smart phones/mobile platforms and PC. Console ownership has been on a slow downward trend for years. Who to believe ?

 

[unwashed potato!]

According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft surveys suggest that younger generations have shifted more toward smart phones/mobile platforms and PC. Console ownership has been on a slow downward trend for years. Who to believe ?

It's also hard to know how to take that. When I was a kid, if I didn't own a console, my house didn't have a console. When my kids are 5, 10 whatever, if they want a console, there will already be consoles in the house from me. So maybe they don't get counted by Phil Spencer as those kids don't have to purchase a console/have one purchased for them like we did as kids.

if i was a kid and my dad had a console, i'd be asking for a mobile. and then when i had a mobile, i'd be asking for something else they don't have, which i assume is these handheld devices like a steam deck. doesn't mean i'm not playing the console, just i have no need to have one purchased for me.

 

[Personality+]

According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft surveys suggest that younger generations have shifted more toward smart phones/mobile platforms and PC. Console ownership has been on a slow downward trend for years. Who to believe ?

Mobile seems to be the entry point for many, access to free to play games as well, and if they want an even better experience on a larger screen, then for select titles PC/laptop is the next choice to level up the experience.

Seems the mobile phone is the one piece of electronics most are willing to upgrade regardless of the £1K price tag attached... helps that's usually with a contract on monthly payments, so affordable for many people.

It's also hard to know how to take that. When I was a kid, if I didn't own a console, my house didn't have a console. When my kids are 5, 10 whatever, if they want a console, there will already be consoles in the house from me. So maybe they don't get counted by Phil Spencer as those kids don't have to purchase a console/have one purchased for them like we did as kids.

This is a good point, I'd no doubt be asking for a phone over a console though I think if I was growing up in this generation.

 

[jennidc]

I think Sony and Nintendo will continue to be successful with console exclusive games and consoles. I think MS will engineer basically a high powered console pc hybrid with a more open platform - similar to the Rog Ally but in console form factor (they will also have a lower powered handheld with similar os).

 

[ooStevo]

I think Microsoft will forget about dedicated consoles very soon. The first Xbox only sold about 22m,but it did outsell the GameCube. Then they followed up with the very successful 360. Everyone was hyped for the new Xbox,and they completely blew it. They have never recovered since that disastrous Xbone reveal. Even the series X is being trounced by the Switch and PS5.

 

[Personality+]