There used to be a reason to buy a console. Back when the Xbox 360 came out there was no way to get similar performance on a gaming PC for a similar price. But now for $400 dollars you can get a PC better than the PS4 and Xbox one. The graphical settings might be slightly worse but you have so much more you can do with it, you have the whole internet. The only way consoles can keep up graphically with a PC over 8 years is due to optimization (although PC graphics blow consoles out the water). But with the upcoming release of AMDs mantle, AMD promises that PC games will be just as easy to program as consoles allowing for greater optimization. This means there will be no way for consoles to keep up with a PC which can be upgraded. While the PS4 and Xbox one will most likely last for at least 5 years before they release another console. But will they be releasing a PS5 and another Xbox i highly doubt it. It seems almost as if Microsoft seems to think consoles are dying because for the Xbox one they didn't seem to advertise it as a gaming device but more as a home entertainment system. Also more and more companies are making PCs that are more suited towards console gamers such as the alien ware 51 and steam machines. More and more gamers seem to be making the switch to PC as the amount of people who play PC has grown 10 times as as much as consoles have grown since 2005.Another thing that leads me to believe consoles are dying is that game developers are going more and more into mobile games for tablets and smartphones. In the end i believe consoles may die or they might just take different form and become a gaming PC that's cheap and easy to setup like steam boxes. Sometimes i wish there weren't wars between Xbox and PlayStation, PC vs console (I am being slightly hypocritical on that notion) Battlefield vs Call of Duty etc. I wish we would all just unite together as what we are gamers. That is what i hope to see as consoles become more like PCs allowing developers to not be limited by hardware. Comment what you think about the future of console and PC gaming.
Does it really matter? Consoles are just a novelty - you can't have consoles without the games developed on the PCs. It's only a matter of time, and that is just fine, if not more than.
This should be a forum post, not a blog post.
Agreed. but in my opinion Consoles aren't Going anywhere. Maybe the Xbox and Playstation may go away but the Idea of Having a Gaming Console will probably not. PC Games now are getting better and better Controller Support. especially the with the rise of Small Form Factor Gaming PCs and Steam Boxes. The Idea of a Console is Evolving and the Living Room Experience isnt going anywhere.. Instead of having your gaming console with non-upgradeable parts and keeping it into a closed platform (Sony and Microsoft).. you can finally upgrade the hardware of your "console" (Steambox or Small Form Factor Gaming PC) to your sole desire. yes they are PCs but the xbox and playstation in a way are PCs too. they are just closed and developed by Microsoft or Sony. so personally, No I Don't think consoles are going anywhere. the closed platform is going to open, when SteamOS is finally up and Going and its going to give people who game on Xbox or Playstation more options now.
No it is not the last generation of consoles you have to look at all of the different perspective's that come to play when there are still consumer's or people to sell your product to why would you stop creating your product. You have to understand that there are region's in the united state's that still do not have internet and very large region's you would be surprised if I showed you the numbers, those consumer's would purchase a console because they don't have internet. When Microsoft announced that they where going to make the console be connected to the internet to work customer's of Microsoft said that they would not purchase the new console but instead go with Playstation it was an uproar. I think we are far from a "last generation of console's" because when there is a profitable gain I think a company's like Sony OR Microsoft or Nintendo want to make money that is their game they have been doing it for years why stop now
Also, how many people are willing to build a computer? And of that small number, how many are gamers?
Consoles will continue to exist, if only for the people who don't have the brain power to build a PC.
you know they make prebuilt computers right?
I'm with @overlordnick on this one.
There are many prebuilt systems, just as there are many prebuilt consoles. The only difference SteamOS is going to make is that we're going to have a console-like OS, and now gamers can build their own consoles. It's also going to give us what we've been wanting for a long time: a decent controller for PCs, both on Windows AND Linux.
Also, consider this: even though many people don't build their own PCs, how many prebuilt systems are sold every year? Even to gamers, how many PC gamers buy a PC in a box from some store, and then upgrade a few parts (like GPU, PSU and so forth) ?
This isn't the end of the PC age. It's the beginning of the PC as "the one device to rule them all" age. We won't need a dedicated console, dedicated DVR, dedicated set top box, etc. We'll have one device that does it all, and does it better, with nearly limitless app support. It's be flexible, customizable, etc.
Some people will tinker. That's how Wozniak started. Some people will innovate, and some won't. The enthusiasts, tinkerers, testers, developers, designers, engineers - they're always there, pushing the technology forward and scouting ahead for new ground to break for other major companies to pour their money into, and get a mountain-sized return from.
That's how it always is. We're just now seeing this reach consoles. In time, we'll see this reach more than just consoles. We'll replace all devices with a PC or an ARM-based solution. You'll buy it to control your "Smart House", and maybe have one in your car (self-driving car anyone?). We'll see less separate devices, and we'll start seeing more unified devices. We are seeing the end of fragmentation, and the beginning of a unification in the electronics world.
This is why the WiiU failed; it couldn't do anything other than play WiiU games. No Netflix, no Hulu, no DVD, no BluRay. Just a console; and nobody wanted it.
People don't want 50 different devices; they want one device that does 50 different things. It simplifies things by a lot. This is why HTML 5.0 apps are starting to appear; it means HTML can be used as an app, meaning web pages and applications can be united into a single thing, so you're not locked down onto a single OS or platform anymore. WebGL will give us great visuals as well, and it will become a standard since DirectX isn't going to be giving us any ability to standardize anything on the internet (unless it's on Windows or XBone).
To quote one of the last lines in the animated movie "The Hobbit" (1977):
Gandalf: "Oh, Bilbo Baggins, if you really understood that ring as someday members of your family not yet born will, then you'd realize that this story has not ended... but is only beginning."
xD that quote. With my take on this and being the lazy person i am to not read anything, I think that the consoles have plenty of time left. What makes a console a console is the fact that it allows gaming to be a simple, enjoyable, no frills experience for gamers that don't want to think how in the future so and so game isn't going to work and so forth. the difference between a pc now and a console now in 10 years is the fact that no pc right now will be able to even play the games in the future, unless you spent 2000+, and even then you only might be able to play on the lowest of settings. But we see clearly that AMD and Nvidia all try to reduce this difference by introducing Raptr and GeForce Experience. They automaticly make the settings right for you, and reduce the hassle some of us gamers hate. I for one, love adjusting the settings to my liking, and many people don't. One problem with people is that many of them don't have confidence that they can build a pc. And the prebuilt gaming pcs are much more expensive than consoles to equal the quality, as most prebuilt gaming pcs are 600-800 to equal the quality. Even though teksyndicate, or tomshardware, or linustechtips are huge pc builder websites, they count for a small amount of the people in this world. Consoles used as gaming hardware is still clearly more than 50% of the gaming world, and even though the gaming pc industry is closing the gap, it will be a while until consoles are rendered expensive and useless, and personally, when the 10 years close in, I wouldn't care less and less about this.
Yes and no. I like being able to click one button and be done with fiddling with my settings. It works out great for me. And the settings look great, and they dron't drop below 60fps most often (except in the most extreme cases during gaming).
Still, it's less work to fiddle with settings for five hours, which means more time gaming.
As I mentioned before, consoles aren't done yet. We're just going to see pre-built PCs with SteamOS pre-loaded on them sold as consoles. It's going to be one more option. Possibly (and here's my huge amount of optimism), we may see Origin, Uplay, the XBox Store and the PlayStation Network being ported onto Linux as apps or even their own OS, and that'll give more revenue avenues for these companies.
They'll be able to make more money, but they'll have less control over the system, the architecture, or what games do with their games or systems. That's both good and bad. However, I don't think Microsoft, Sony or any other console maker should be in the business of policing what their customers do with the products they bought. It's time we treat digital merchandise as physical merchandise; we bought it, we own it, and we don't want companies telling us what to do with the stuff we bought.
I wouldn't want Nissan or Toyota telling me what I can do to my car. I wouldn't want Coca-Cola telling me how to drink my soda. I wouldn't want Burger King telling me how to eat my burger, put ranch dressing on my salad or telling me how much ketchup I need to put on my fries before I can start gobbling them up. If you can't imagine that in the non-digital world, than why should it happen in the digital world too? It's insane some companies do that, yet, it's exactly what's happening. It's anti-consumer, and it's a policy that only harms their consumer and the experience with their product. It's a pity more consumers don't vote with their wallets.
Console are little money making machines are not going any place any time soon.
I don't think anyone is debating about whether consoles are going away. Gamers still want something to run their games on their big-screen TVs and monitors.
What I think is that we'll see more things included as functionality and features in said consoles, and we'll see them control more than just games or apps, but also functions of the house (like lights, heating, cooling, refrigerators, etc). I think we'll also see consoles moving away from being custom hardware, into being PCs running some proprietary OS. I think fragmentation is ending, and a more standardized era is beginning. =)
While i do agree that hardware standardization will become more common, i think custom hardware for consoles is still going to be a factor since currently another big reason why you have custom hardware is to decrease costs of manufacturing. It's completely possible taht we may even see this on future OEM steam machines
I'm not entirely convinced of that. They could use off-the-shelf components, and just customize the case. Think of the SteamBox, and just think of one that's maybe smaller, more stylized, maybe with open-slot optical drive?
We could very well even see AIO consoles that also serve as the wireless router or even the modem for a household! Imagine being able to use your console as both router, modem and firewall! That'd be so epic! =)
Just think, how much did it cost game developers to make a console-platform game vs the ones for PCs and Macs?
Well, there's that. But have you ever thought about how much money Sony could save by not launching a console, but instead just an OS for PCs with a proprietary controller and dedicated app store?
All they'd need is something within it to determine what the specifications are, and if it can run a given game, and if it can't, it won't run the game or allow the user to buy it on their machine.
I don't think that idea would work well in today's consumer's preference. Releasing just an OS and then some accessories made by them will over complicate an average user's skills. But by making a hardware that can be explained in simple words that everyone can think off, that won't hurt sales a lot. You got to think of people wanting to play a game but they aren't too tech savvy like us or can't be arsed to set up their gaming system to the vast perfection. All they want is entertainment.
There are differences between people being an IT-type, and people who are not so much into computing.
everything needs people to invest time and money. any kind of talk about this doesn't make sense, since the PC gaming industry right now going small form factor is way too quick of a transition. I think that the consoles could be able to compete by what they have done before; decreasing the price of the current consoles, upgrade the hardware of the current ones to make "slim" versions and less problems on the software. And even though this doesn't sound so great to us, it works in logic and it has worked for years. this small invasion of the PC industry is not enough to shake the balance of the console industry and cause tsunamis and earthquakes magitude 7 to form.
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The head of Sony said this was the last generation of on the edge hardware consoles.
So yea.. You have it from the horses mouth. Cloud and streaming will take over for them.
Steam OS is our only island to swim to in 8 - 10 years from now
True. So how about consoles like the car market?
"The 2014 PlayStation eSports Edition is the ultimate in console gaming this year. Now with better controllers, finely tuned ergonomic grips, tactile feedback on mechanical buttons, and more! No compromises; it's time to un-limit yourself. The 2014 PlayStation eSports Edition, for those who demand the best."
Maybe a marketing blurb like that. Games would come with minimum requirements dependent on your console, and the settings would change accordingly. Think of how Apple does things with their iPhones, MacBooks, MacPro and iPods. You've got various models and so forth.
In other words, the OS is free for those who want to tinker, but you get premium support and a pre-built system if you buy one. Each year about 2 or three models come out. You've got "Premium", "Deluxe" and "eSports", meant to designate the video/audio performance and quality, features, bundled controllers, and more. "Premium" for those who the entry-level console of that year, "Deluxe" for those who want the mid-range price/performance value option, and the top-tier "eSports Edition" for those who want utmost performance and no compromises for competitive gaming online, in tournaments, mainly focused at pro-gamers and those with big wallets. They'd all be priced accordingly, obviously.
These are solutions to get around this. Sony would no longer have to worry about designing a console, just an OS. They'd simply make three models with certain GPU and CPU manufacturers, make a nice case, then sell it. You've still got a walled garden they like, you just removed the dependency. And you've also opened up additional revenue paths by letting enthusiasts and those with PCs start to pour money into your store. It's a win-win.
And much like Microsoft that sells it's OS to the public, Sony could sell their OS to the public for those who want to tinker, but their consoles come with the OS pre-installed. And the OS could have revisions that don't allow older models to continue to play after so long. That means older hardware wouldn't be supported, but all your games would be ported through the cloud, using a PS version of Steam.
There's a whole range of solutions to be explored, if Sony will open their minds first to the possibilities of standardizing hardware. =)