I think Xbox is becoming very future proof, are Nintendo and Sony behind? Will it hurt them in long term?

[Kingpin722]

Something about trying to translate the fates of movies, music, and tv to Gaming just feels wrong.

It's a lot easier to simply strip the hardware requirement from music, tv, and movies because you're just consuming an image or audio. There's so many layers video games, it would take decades for society to get to a point where we could easily consume gaming seamlessly at their highest fidelity. We even see streaming services charging high rates for HIFI audio, and not really giving us true 4K quality. Imagine the cutbacks that would come with streaming games if it ever were to take over.

Hardware will be the primary way to game for the rest of our lifetimes minimum imo

 

[NinjaScooter]

Even if subscription service is the future (and I think it probably is) I don't think there's necessarily anything to suggest we are even at the ground floor of that yet, or that its something Nintendo or Sony need to act on in the immediate future. MS pivoted to it hard in large part because their traditional gaming business cratered. That hasn't happened to PS or Nintendo. And if we are keeping the movie/tv streaming analogy, Disney waited until Netflix had been established for like 10 years before jumping in with their streaming offering and it didn't appear to stop them from making a splash.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Nintendo's games sell well even though their online infrastructure is shit. People will keep buying even if they're a little behind the curve

 

[12Danny123]

Something about trying to translate the fates of movies, music, and tv to Gaming just feels wrong.

It's a lot easier to simply strip the hardware requirement from music, tv, and movies because you're just consuming an image or audio. There's so many layers video games, it would take decades for society to get to a point where we could easily consume gaming seamlessly at their highest fidelity. We even see streaming services charging high rates for HIFI audio, and not really giving us true 4K quality. Imagine the cutbacks that would come with streaming games if it ever were to take over.

Hardware will be the primary way to game for the rest of our lifetimes minimum imo

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History suggest that people don't care about the resolution quality to watch a film or a show. As long it's 'good enough' people will subscribe.

 

[Izzard]

Why won't we be buying consoles and games to play on them in the future?

 

[Faiyaz]

No, because high-quality first-party games (especially in Nintendo's case).

 

[Ego]

How is Sony and Nintendo behind?
I though it was the other way around?

 

[Hyun Sai]

Making games people want to play is future proof. They just have to do that.

 

[travisbickle]

Hopefully Sony will consider making a subscription for streaming games, and maybe an app to play games on your pc/phone.

 

[Dennis8K]

20 years from now is a HUUUUUUGE amount of time.

I am not sure consoles will even be a thing in 20 years.

 

[BlackBoyFly]

As long as Sony is making games like God Of War, Uncharted, The Last Of Us, Horizon, GOT and Gran Turismo, they'll be just fine.


As long as Nintendo has franchise's like Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing and the like, they'll be fine.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

Why won't we be buying consoles and games to play on them in the future?

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We're gonna be hooked up to machines like SAO.

 

[BitterFig]

I think it's tough to suggest that subscriptions are not the future with respect to any entertainment medium, games included. Ease of access and diversity of choice at single entry price point(s) is simply something that consumers have grown to want over time, and I don't see the genie being put back in the bottle. There are instances where subscriptions are forced and anti-consumer, such as consumer software (Adobe Suite, Office 365, etc) where the ability to purchase individual licenses are removed in lieu of ongoing subscription plans, but all in all - I think it works well for entertainment.

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I find it more convenient to permanently own games than check when is something coming and when is something leaving and which game I should prioritize. As for streaming itself, major features like suspending your game sessions are still not there. There is also perceptible lag and loss in imagine quality. You can say oh this will be solved in a few years. But I think Microsoft's bet is not to bleed for yet another gen. The failed price increase of Gold is a good indication that they want to make good margins right about now.

 

[MoogleWizard]

That's a bit of a weird question considering MS' position in the market. If that's the future it must be very far away because Xbox is selling the worst out of the three by far, and Stadia tried streaming and failed miserably. MS is betting everything on subscriptions because they simply failed with the traditional business model. If they had games like Animal Crossing that sell 30 million copies at 60 $/€, you know they would sell them instead of putting them on a subscription service.

And not every medium is the same, Amazon has been trying to make book subscriptions happen for years but people prefer to just buy books instead. Why? Because people value books more highly than film & music and actually want to own them? Perhaps. The main reason is because big releases are simply not available on the subscription service, so you have to buy them. As long as Mario and Uncharted aren't on a streaming service, people will keep buying Mario and Uncharted.

 

[Jiraiya]

Even if subscription service is the future (and I think it probably is) I don't think there's necessarily anything to suggest we are even at the ground floor of that yet, or that its something Nintendo or Sony need to act on in the immediate future. MS pivoted to it hard in large part because their traditional gaming business cratered. That hasn't happened to PS or Nintendo. And if we are keeping the movie/tv streaming analogy, Disney waited until Netflix had been established for like 10 years before jumping in with their streaming offering and it didn't appear to stop them from making a splash.

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I

Xbox's pivot has way more to do with Microsoft than the competition.

 

[Speevy]

What companies think is the future seems to vary depending on the year. It was once thought that Nintendo's non-traditional console was the future, but then people got tired of swinging their arms.

People once thought a portable Sony system with the graphics horsepower of a PS2 and movie-playing abilities would crush the novelty dual-screened Nintendos ystem.

When Microsoft first entered the online gaming space, their goal was for Xbox to become synonymous with online console gaming. I'd say they've done a pretty great job. Despite that, Sony made its Playstation Network very successful. Nintendo even finally entered the online space.

I have no doubt that subscription-based and streaming services will grow, but our exponentially growing excitement for them does not necessarily translate to an equal decline in any of Sony or Nintendo's consoles or services. Your average person doesn't think in terms of "Woah, is this legal?" concerning getting hundreds of quality titles for a subscription fee. This will take some time to fully pan out over the next 10 (yes, 10) years. I say 10 because that is the amount of time it would take for a Microsoft "Xbox" service to become as ubiquitous as Netflix on traditional computing machines and streaming machines, cell phones, tablets, etc..

I understand this notion that Microsoft is buying up stuff like Daniel Plainview and Sony is missing its chance, but the current market still supports 120 million Playstation users and probably 100 million or more Nintendo users. That's a lot of people who need to be served. There's room for everyone.

 

[Reckheim]

As long as they allow you to have one month subscriptions to gamepass I'll be there. Otherwise I prefer to own my games.

 

[tzare]

How is Sony and Nintendo behind?
I though it was the other way around?

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This has been the talk for a while, from us media mainly, but extended to forums and internet by a very vocal and active minority. So they can change perception.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

You're right in your analogy that music sales slowed to a crawl and the music industry pivoted (extremely slowly) to a subscription model... but the writing was on the wall way ahead of time there.

While Nintendo and Sony are still shifting so much full priced software I don't think need to worry about that well drying up any time soon. Piracy hasn't absolutely gutted the gaming industry like it did the music industry. People are still happy to buy games, in huge numbers. Other methods are trying their hands (and doing well!) but I don't think that means anybody selling software needs to panic.

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Not only that F2P has become huge on console now .
So there even more way to give access to content than ever before and make money .

 

[Korezo]

Well I don't sub to shit other than amazon prime, I like owning my stuff and still being able to use it in my future. And if cloud gaming is the future I would easily quit gaming as a hobby and move on to cars even more.

 

[12Danny123]

That's a bit of a weird question considering MS' position in the market. If that's the future it must be very far away because Xbox is selling the worst out of the three by far, and Stadia tried streaming and failed miserably. MS is betting everything on subscriptions because they simply failed with the traditional business model. If they had games like Animal Crossing that sell 30 million copies at 60 $/€, you know they would.

And not every medium is the same, Amazon has been trying to make book subscriptions happen for years but people prefer to just buy books instead. Why? Because people value books more highly than film & music and actually want to own them? Perhaps. The main reason is because big releases are simply not available on the subscription service, so you have to buy them. As long as Mario and Uncharted aren't on a streaming service, people will keep buying Mario and Uncharted.

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Which is why Google, Amazon and MS are on aggressive acquisition sprees, they know this and the way to fix this is acquiring big third party publishers.

 

[Mandelbo]

Yes, today, but times be changing. And whatever works today, doesn't mean it will work tomorrow.

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I think that sentiment demonstrates exactly why tying all your media consumption to subscription services isn't future proof. It's perfectly fine now, when services are still live, but will they be 10 or 15 years down the line? And when they inevitably do shut down, all your games and music and films will be gone, because you never owned them in the first place, and even if it was a service which allowed you to download local copies of media, those can no longer be authenticated because there's nowhere to phone home to, so those are gone as well.

This is one of the big reservations lots of people have about Stadia, for instance - many are cautious about buying into the ecosystem because Google's track record shows that if something stops performing to their expectations they aren't afraid of discontinuing it entirely. Personally I hope this isn't where things are heading long term; I like knowing that, should I choose to, I can just dig out my Gamecube and play the original version of Luigi's Mansion for example, even though it's a 20 year old game. I might not do it all the time, but having the option is a luxury that I'd be sad to see go away.

 

[RavensShade]

It seems that there is a group of people on here that believe consumers by the newest gaming hardware to have the latest/best hardware. The truth is that consumers as a whole by hardware to play games. if there is a game people want to play and they can afford the buy in, they will buy the system. there is a ceiling for convenience factor, usually where fomo and desire meet.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Which is why Google, Amazon and MS are on aggressive acquisition sprees, they know this and the way to fix this is acquiring big third party publishers.

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Amazon and Google are on an aggressive aquisiton spree in the gaming space ? I must have missed that.

 

[Unknownlight]

You're right in your analogy that music sales slowed to a crawl and the music industry pivoted (extremely slowly) to a subscription model... but the writing was on the wall way ahead of time there.

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This is an important point. It's not like the old business model for the music industry suddenly became irrelevant overnight—it was obvious that the tides were turning for years and years.

That's not the case for traditional gaming right now. The "buy a box; play our games" model is winning, quite decisively. Will that be the case forever? Who knows, but it doesn't really matter yet. As long existing companies don't pull a Blockbuster and stick their heads in the sand, they'll have time.

 

[RavensShade]

On the subject of acquisitions companies need to want to be bought. It doesn't matter how much money MS, Amazon, or Google have, if the dev companies don't want to be bought( and if publicly traded: can resist takeover, or investors don't want to sell.)

 

[That1GoodHunter]

Nintendo does not rely on third party support anywhere to the degree that Sony or MS do.

There is no amount of acquisitions, no amount of 1 dollar gamepass sales, no aggressive marketing campaigns, no years worth of goodwill that MS can pile on that will ever stop Nintendo from making bank and groundpounding them hardware and software revenue wise, if Mario Kart, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and Smash continue to release on Nintendo hardware.

MS would actively have to target Nintendo's capacity to produce their heavy hitters to even come close to denting Nintendo's success.

Now Sony....

 

[Skulldead]

I think that was the idea behind Stadia.

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.

 

[Lagspike_exe]

Neither Sony nor Nintendo have to follow suit as long as people are consistently willing to shell out $60/$70 for their games.

 

[Shirkelton]

The one weird trick Sony doesn't want Microsoft to know...!

 

[LordBaztion]

Eventually, will end up partnering with a big platform for streaming, if they try to compete with MS and the other big boys, they will end crushed. Their best option is to become good producers so future platform holders bid big on them. In the meantime, profit as much as they can with hardware.

 

[Mr_F_Snowman]

Its not as though they will wake up one day and every thing will have changed. Any transition will be gradual if it ever happens and they will have plenty of time to adapt + at that point they can just launch their own service - you see the fragmentation of movie / tv services it not going to be Gamepass or bust - so in reality nothing is likely to change one way or the other - you're just stripping away the console. The fact will remain that its the content that will sell the service the same way that software sells hardware these days and in that regard Nintendo and Sony can do the job a lot more effectively than Microsoft.

You can argue that will change with acquisitions MS is making but unless they go out and buy EA / Acti / Ubisoft, the guys developing the games that sell 20+ million and shift consoles these days its going to do very little to move the needle. And Nintendo rely on their own output to shift hardware so for them its even less relevant who MS go and acquire

 

[Combichristoffersen]

The one weird trick Sony doesn't want Microsoft to know...!

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What trick is that, how to consistently make highly reviewed GOTY candidates that sell 10+ million copies? :P

 

[BlackheartVinyl]

I believe Sony especially (but maybe even Nintendo) will have to choose Google or Amazon to partner with very soon. Or risk getting purchased by them in a decade.

 

[Era of not Yakuza]

we always have an "MS is doing something that has not proved to be the new standard in this industry and because of that, Sony and Nintendo, whose consoles and games are selling every unit available, may be at risk" thread, don't we?

 

[ZeoVGM]

There's no way of knowing whether or not their strategy is future proof.

Personally, I question where Xbox will be at the end of this gen if they still aren't releasing regular major exclusives despite the studio purchases.

 

[Shirkelton]

if they try to compete with MS and the other big boys, they will end crushed.

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Will they?

 

[Estarossa]

I think Nintendo will be fine with their slate of iconic IPs.

Sony on the other hand is doomed, if I'm being slightly hyperbolic. They have very few well-known IPs and unlike Nintendo, their biggest system sellers are 3rd party games. Things are looking grim for them in the not so distant future. Sony going 3rd party is a real possibility.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

I think it's tough to suggest that subscriptions are not the future with respect to any entertainment medium, games included. Ease of access and diversity of choice at single entry price point(s) is simply something that consumers have grown to want over time, and I don't see the genie being put back in the bottle. There are instances where subscriptions are forced and anti-consumer, such as consumer software (Adobe Suite, Office 365, etc) where the ability to purchase individual licenses are removed in lieu of ongoing subscription plans, but all in all - I think it works well for entertainment.

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I think streaming for games have 2 big issues other media did not have that will make things interesting .
1 A game can eat up more time than any movie , book , series etc etc so there less reason to go looking for different content .
2 F2P which is a monster which already allow ten of million to play the game and even more popular now than ever on console .

 

[liquidmetal14]

No, you're reading too much into it.

 

[ZeoVGM]

I believe Sony especially (but maybe even Nintendo) will have to choose Google or Amazon to partner with very soon. Or risk getting purchased by them in a decade.

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lmao what

 

[cw_sasuke]

I believe Sony especially (but maybe even Nintendo) will have to choose Google or Amazon to partner with very soon. Or risk getting purchased by them in a decade.

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Same way Netflix has to chose now between Apple, Amazon, Google or MS or be purchased by them ? lol

 

[Speevy]

I think Nintendo will be fine with their slate of iconic IPs.

Sony on the other hand is doomed, if I'm being slightly hyperbolic. They have very few well-known IPs and unlike Nintendo, their biggest system sellers are 3rd party games. Things are looking grim for them in the not so distant future. Sony going 3rd party is a real possibility.

Click to shrink...

"So how did we do, Bob?"

"120 million consoles."

"Great, how are we doing now?"

"Well, all the bots are buying up our machine so it's hard to tell. We've sold them all though."

"All right, sounds good. What about the future?"

"Doomed."

"Shit, pack it up, boys."

 

[Shirkelton]

You can just say whatever you want on here, really.

 

[Deleted member 63122]

Honest Question, do you guys believe Stadia will last the year? An Amazon, I can see Luna being a bit more successful if they tie it with Prime, but I think cloud gaming is something that has not capture the eyes of gamers or is something that has been entirely overlooked.

 

[ClamBuster]

when game pass (xcloud) is on every ios device and every smart tv, then the tables will start to turn

as of now on xbox, a watered down service on pc, and almost in its beta phase on android, it's hard to brag about the future

i know three people in their late 30s who bought a switch in the last few weeks (mainly for the kids)... all three of them have absolutely no idea what a game pass is, or that there is a cheap affordable series s on offer

microsoft are happy to have cyberpunk 2077 plastered on every bus, bus stop, billboard, etc, in my town, but for some bizarre reason they don't tell the world about cheap gaming on their platform???

phil spencer has worked wonders catering to 'gamers'... but he doesn't seem to have the ability to cater to anyone else

 

[SCUMMbag]

I think subscriptions and cloud probably is the future for mainstream audiences but I'm not sure how far we actually are away. If I had to bet, we're about a couple of decades before streaming becomes the primary form of play, but it's hard to tell really.

I also think the industry could also sustain 3 major subscription services the same way it does consoles. Whether Sony and Nintendo go it on their own or partner with another service remains to be seen.

 

[Deleted member 56752]

this is one of the worst takes.

If people buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games and Nintendo doesn't make a streaming service they have to get the next Nintendo console otherwise there is no way to play their games.

Same goes for Sony, the people that want Sony games will have to get PlayStation because that's the only way to play them.

People aren't going to suddenly stop caring about GoW, Mario, Uncharted, Animal Crossing, HZD, Zelda and Pokémon just because they can play CoD on their phone.

Xbox is a very distant third compared to the behemoth that is the PlayStation family and the absolutely monstrous sales Nintendo games can achieve.

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Absolutely. Which is why they're focusing on their monster subscriber number for game pass.

I think a lot of people here miss the point. All 3 companies are doing their own thing and succeeding. Let's just enjoy the show :)

 

[Dizastah]

I believe Sony especially (but maybe even Nintendo) will have to choose Google or Amazon to partner with very soon. Or risk getting purchased by them in a decade.

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There has definitely been some strange takes in this thread, but this has got to be the strangest one so far....lol

 

[thecaseace]

They're only future proof if that's the future

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Whilst we don't know that services are the future of gaming it's worth pointing out they've been the future of, film, music, software and many spaces within the technology sector. And the issue is I can't see what makes video games massively different to those areas that have been completely altered by more service led companies.