3 ms·
I have a feeling, that in the future, gaming is going to either see a complete revolution or another crash (and then a renaissance). Traditional consoles will
by omarhegazy 13y ago
I have a feeling, that in the future, gaming is going to either see a complete revolution or another crash (and then a renaissance).
Traditional consoles will go out of fashion, and console manufacturers will either 1. fall under, or 2. continue generating a lot of money, but fall out of relevancy in the public eye (much like IBM, Oracle, some would say Microsoft, etc.). People are starting to see consoles for what they are : overpriced PCs with really shitty OSes and very limited software opportunities. Why spend $300 on a gadget that can play games when I have already spent $300 on a different, more powerful and capable gadget that can also play games, but also a lot of other stuff?
Why lug around another portable when my smartphone already has a bunch of awesome games/spend my money on a device sitting on a shelf that basically can only do a fraction of what my PC already does, in a shitty way, too (poorer graphics,more expensive games, no mods, not upgradeable, etc.)?
Before it used to be that consoles had the best library of games, but as the indie scene explodes, we're seeing the best games coming from developers who simply can't afford the inefficient and restrictive console publishing system when they can reach a much larger/much more devoted market by just putting their work on the App Store/Greenlight -> Steam, and then giving Apple/Valve 30% of their sales. Why get in a whole fuss with publishers and console manufacturers and retailers and what-not? Sony and Microsoft are trying to retaliate by being relatively more open about indie/digital publishing, but it's too little, too late.
Gaming will then split into 2 main platforms : Mobile for 'casual', and PC for 'hardcore'. Hardcore gaming isn't going to go out of fashion, no, it's just going to move to a different platform : instead of consoles, the desktop -- fully equipped with keyboard, mouse, and Oculus Rift (that's another thing I see will happen - VR is going to replace the TV for gaming). As PC gaming gets more and more popular and PC-building gets more and more widespread and Valve gets more and more accessible/approachable in terms of the Steambox, Big Picture, etc., people will go to PC whenever they want multiple hours-long sessions of gaming instead of the quick, easy, addictive, instant gratification of the Flappy Birds they play on the subway. And the VR will just enhance their experience 100-fold.