Next-Gen Consoles Will Fail If They Don't Go Digital Only

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I'm not sure if this guy is onto something or just on something so I'll just let you guys decide which one it is. ;)

“The industry is transitioning from boxed to digital games. Physical media like DVD is dying out and gaming is rapidly moving to digital distribution. If hardware manufacturers such as Sony and Microsoft do not manage this transition soon, they will be overtaken and left behind by companies who are embracing digital distribution wholly and completely.
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The retailers will say to Sony and Microsoft “you can’t sell game X at retail for $60 and then sell it in your App Store for $2.” However, console-makers will need to sell games for $2 or else they will not be competitive with Apple.”
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I think this guy is delusional if he thinks that iPhone and iPad games are competing with console and PC games. They are not. They are time wasters for people on the go or light-weight, low budget games that appeal to casual gamers. This is not the audience that Xbox and Microsoft are courting. Nintendo, perhaps, might be more wary of that, but they seem to be going after the enthusiasts again a bit more with the WiiU.

In a few more generations of power, the iPad might be a reasonable gaming solution, but it's still not going to be as good as playing games on a 60" plasma connected to a home theater, or on a Surround equipped desktop, etc.

I do think they need to adopt digital distribution for other reasons, but it's certainly not because the App Store or Android Market are offering better deals.
 
Stupid and completely non-sensible.

I'm not even going to elaborate.
 
Sony sells tons of games that are and were first sold at retail on PSN. They have also said that they were moving to a model where you could buy games from the PSN on the same day as they were available at retail for the Vita. So long as a console has the ability to receive digital content I don't think it makes any difference if they put in the means to access physical media or not. I would assume Sony won't dump the Blu-ray drive on the next PS (they have too much invested in the "not dead yet" format) but an all digital console might go over well with Microsoft.
 
Rizen said:
In a few more generations of power, the iPad might be a reasonable gaming solution, but it's still not going to be as good as playing games on a 60" plasma connected to a home theater, or on a Surround equipped desktop, etc.
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Don't be so picky! Just because it's tiny doesn't mean that you can't have hours and hours of fun playing with it. Besides, I'd like to see one of you guys find a way to stuff 60 inches of anything into your pants so you can carry it with you.
 
If they copied Steam's model.. I think any of the big 3 console companies will succeed.

Hurdle will be storage. I don't think physical media will be gone completely though. Some people's internet connection isn't fast enough to download a 10-30GB file, so most people will still opt to buy in store.
 
This guy is on to something! I was on a tight budget so instead of buying Battlefield 3 I settled for a $2 Tetris clone from the app store and got the same amount of enjoyment!

/Things a console or PC gamer will never say.
 
If a company goes digital only, don't expect their console to be sold in that store.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Don't be so picky! Just because it's tiny doesn't mean that you can't have hours and hours of fun playing with it. Besides, I'd like to see one of you guys find a way to stuff 60 inches of anything into your pants so you can carry it with you.
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I think the point is that touch screen controls suck for most harder core gaming (first person shooters) and that the hard ware in any portable device greatly pales in comparison to even a super low-end gaming capable PC. Sure portable games have their place, but I know that no gamer here would switch their PC for a iPad no matter what. Its not about being picky, its about not wanting sub-par shitty games on devices that aren't designed to compete with dedicated gaming machines.

wiseoracle said:
If they copied Steam's model.. I think any of the big 3 console companies will succeed.

Hurdle will be storage. I don't think physical media will be gone completely though. Some people's internet connection isn't fast enough to download a 10-30GB file, so most people will still opt to buy in store.
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This...articles like this always make me shake my head because it seems like people that write these articles think everyone in the country who games has a constant rock-solid reliable FIOS line directly from the ISP to their house. Most of my friends that play games online are using 1.5MB - 3MB DSL lines and are completely useless when it comes to downloading big-ass files, especially full on games that, like you said, range anywhere from 5-30GB.

Again, to quote my first post:

Me said:
Stupid and completely non-sensible.
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Sony's taking a pretty cool route in the next generation, Microsoft's continuing down their "lol people pay for anything" path and Nintendo's pulling a Nintendo.

But you didn't hear those "rumors" from where the next generation consoles are heading from me. If you're content with what your 360/PS3/Wii delivers today, you can expect the same from their replacements - only it's exactly the same when it comes to the 360 successor.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Don't be so picky! Just because it's tiny doesn't mean that you can't have hours and hours of fun playing with it. Besides, I'd like to see one of you guys find a way to stuff 60 inches of anything into your pants so you can carry it with you.
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It's hard, but I manage.
 
People use the optical drives in games consoles for other things besides gaming
 
MrLonghair said:
Sony's taking a pretty cool route in the next generation, Microsoft's continuing down their "lol people pay for anything" path and Nintendo's pulling a Nintendo.
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Isn't Sony the company that had an employee notably imply people would get a second job to pay for the PlayStation?
 
While I don't foresee anything like that at launch, I'd be shocked if that isn't where things end up in the life cycle of the next gen.
 
The "Industry" may be TRYING to switch from physical to digital media, but that doesn't mean that the console "consumers" have made this transition. Are there some digital game sales taking place? Yes. But a significant amount of games are still being sold in digital form.

To say that the industry is transitioning, and therefor these devices should do away with the previous media is to ask for gamer backlash. Sony and MS are smart enough to recognize this as well. Is the industry transitioning? Yes. Has the transition been made? Absolutely not. If the transition was complete, then GameStop would be pretty much out of business by now, given that used physical games makes up 80% of their business. But this is simply not the case. They brought in over $170 Million in profits last year.

The physical media is still around. And will continue through at least this next generation. Just because EA plans to do away with physical discs "in the future" doesn't mean that future is here yet. To follow through with David Darling's advice would become a PR nightmare for the manufacturer who does so.
 
Rizen said:
I think this guy is delusional if he thinks that iPhone and iPad games are competing with console and PC games. They are not. They are time wasters for people on the go or light-weight, low budget games that appeal to casual gamers. This is not the audience that Xbox and Microsoft are courting. Nintendo, perhaps, might be more wary of that, but they seem to be going after the enthusiasts again a bit more with the WiiU.

In a few more generations of power, the iPad might be a reasonable gaming solution, but it's still not going to be as good as playing games on a 60" plasma connected to a home theater, or on a Surround equipped desktop, etc.

I do think they need to adopt digital distribution for other reasons, but it's certainly not because the App Store or Android Market are offering better deals.
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This is in regards to this quote, that you quoted too: "The retailers will say to Sony and Microsoft “you can’t sell game X at retail for $60 and then sell it in your App Store for $2.” However, console-makers will need to sell games for $2 or else they will not be competitive with Apple.” "

I'd like to point out that stupid people, or people that aren't invested themselves into the gaming industry see just "games" as an entirely unified media, seeing nothing or knowing nothing different between Angry Birds and World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. They don't understand that the amount of development that goes into different games, and try to liken them to movies. It's completely different industry than any other, and instead of trying to understand that they try to make absurd blanket statements that sound insane. Do you think he knows ho much money went into a single AAA title game? I honestly think that if you told him that it was at least $30 million and that selling 1 million copies is considered good, his head would explode. That, or he doesn't understand math.

With that said, Nintendo is actually pushing to have all their games available for download for the Wii U and 3DS on the same day they come out in stores, and are trying to get the third party developers to get into that action. Right now, if you want to download a game for Xbox 360 that's in retail, you have a wait of between a month to a year, to never. Honestly, though, the games are big and take forever to download. I'd rather put a disc into the drive and not waste all my space on my local storage. Still, options are options, I guess.
 
matteos said:
People use the optical drives in games consoles for other things besides gaming
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People use optical drives still? I haven't used mine in 5 years...I don't even install windows off of a DVD anymore.

Can't imagine what someone would be using it connected to a TV for...
 
They have pretty much went digital already. Mass Effect 3 was available for download on PSN the day it was released. More and more games are going this route with physical and digital releases on both 360 and PS3. Yet I’m sure the majority of the people (like myself) go with a physical copy.
 
MrLonghair said:
Sony's taking a pretty cool route in the next generation, Microsoft's continuing down their "lol people pay for anything" path and Nintendo's pulling a Nintendo.

But you didn't hear those "rumors" from where the next generation consoles are heading from me. If you're content with what your 360/PS3/Wii delivers today, you can expect the same from their replacements - only it's exactly the same when it comes to the 360 successor.
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So what you're saying is that you listen to rumours and pretend to know what is actually going on. And for some reason, you're completely ignoring what Nintendo is actually doing.

So, what is Sony's "pretty cool route" besides their rumored attempt to destroy the second hand market?
 
MrLonghair said:
Sony's taking a pretty cool route in the next generation, Microsoft's continuing down their "lol people pay for anything" path and Nintendo's pulling a Nintendo.

But you didn't hear those "rumors" from where the next generation consoles are heading from me. If you're content with what your 360/PS3/Wii delivers today, you can expect the same from their replacements - only it's exactly the same when it comes to the 360 successor.
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From what I've heard (all speculation of course) Microsofts next console is going to be like the WiiU...a slight upgrade (or side-grade depending on how you look at it) from current hardware while being "family friend" (aka for children and vaginas)...I mean, its pretty much confirmed the "Xbox 720" will be ARM based, which is an automatic fail. You'll basically be getting a souped up Tegra 3 with a slightly faster GPU.

Sony, however, has claimed that they are actually making a true NEXT-GEN console and will sport some damn impressive hardware and visuals rivaling those of current gaming PC's. This I don't find so improbable as the PS3 was definitely next-gen when it came out, granted it took years for the software to catch up, but now that it has it shows (look at Uncharted 3 or Beyond: Two Souls).

If this holds true I see MS sucking this next generation and the PS3 being the true next-gen console, at least the one that I'm more interested in to say the least. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if after a year or two MS comes out with the Xbox 1080 with a big "JK guys! Heres our true next-gen console lulz!".

Again, this is all speculation, but from whats been gathered so far, I do NOT like where MS is going with the Xbox 720...at all...
 
You can buy DVD-ROM drives for less than £10 retail. I would have thought that having a DVD-ROM player on a games console would make it more attractive to those who would want to play all of those games that they bought on DVD.
 
JoeUser said:
From what I've heard (all speculation of course) Microsofts next console is going to be like the WiiU...a slight upgrade (or side-grade depending on how you look at it) from current hardware while being "family friend" (aka for children and vaginas)...I mean, its pretty much confirmed the "Xbox 720" will be ARM based, which is an automatic fail. You'll basically be getting a souped up Tegra 3 with a slightly faster GPU.

Sony, however, has claimed that they are actually making a true NEXT-GEN console and will sport some damn impressive hardware and visuals rivaling those of current gaming PC's. This I don't find so improbable as the PS3 was definitely next-gen when it came out, granted it took years for the software to catch up, but now that it has it shows (look at Uncharted 3 or Beyond: Two Souls).

If this holds true I see MS sucking this next generation and the PS3 being the true next-gen console, at least the one that I'm more interested in to say the least. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if after a year or two MS comes out with the Xbox 1080 with a big "JK guys! Heres our true next-gen console lulz!".

Again, this is all speculation, but from whats been gathered so far, I do NOT like where MS is going with the Xbox 720...at all...
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Are you basing this off of that stupid "leaked" product plan that MS is trying to get taken down? I hope you realize that everyone at Microsoft had said that there's no plans to release a console for at least 2 years. That would put it at 2014 or later. Moreover, what would even be MS' reasons for launching a new console now, when it's finally selling this well? I've said it a million times, it was likely a presentation made to the heads of the Xbox development department at Microsoft and was rejected for being a terrible idea.

And what is Sony's plans that have been released? I haven't heard anything but some dumb rumors, and Sony's promise for the PS3 to last 10 years would put the PS4 at 2016. Which, honestly, would be cool to see the PS4 and Xbox 720/whatever duke it out with a mindblowing 4 GIGS of RAM!!!!
 
Consoles are already doomed. Why? The next generation of gamers (e.g. the ones that were born during the smartphone era) are getting their first taste of gaming on a smartphone (and tablets). This will be what they "know" and will "ask for" from their parents. Parents wll be more likely to say yes to a $5 game than a $50 game. Thus when they get to the age where a console is viable for them...it won't really enter their mind.
 
What about B-Ray drives. I know it's rumored that the next xbox will have a Bray drive. So no physical games, but you can play blu-rays on it? That seems unlikely.
 
An optical drive would just be a waste of space. It could put be better put to use by using that space for better hardware cooling.
 
Hitmanthe3rd said:
What about B-Ray drives. I know it's rumored that the next xbox will have a Bray drive. So no physical games, but you can play blu-rays on it? That seems unlikely.
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I'm of the firm belief that consoles should go for a new media than discs. I imagine they could make a cheap flash media that is could be the size of a playing card and would have a much faster read speed than any optical media. I wonder if such a thing would be feasible...
 
ballistic90 said:
Are you basing this off of that stupid "leaked" product plan that MS is trying to get taken down? I hope you realize that everyone at Microsoft had said that there's no plans to release a console for at least 2 years. That would put it at 2014 or later. Moreover, what would even be MS' reasons for launching a new console now, when it's finally selling this well? I've said it a million times, it was likely a presentation made to the heads of the Xbox development department at Microsoft and was rejected for being a terrible idea.

And what is Sony's plans that have been released? I haven't heard anything but some dumb rumors, and Sony's promise for the PS3 to last 10 years would put the PS4 at 2016. Which, honestly, would be cool to see the PS4 and Xbox 720/whatever duke it out with a mindblowing 4 GIGS of RAM!!!!
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Seems I might be kinda right:

Rumor: Microsoft to Launch ARM-based Xbox in 2013

It would appear (again all rumors I know) that MS will be releasing a "Xbox Lite" of sorts. This will be the ARM version and will be of a media-box type device made for Kinect intergration...made for media consumption and "casual" games. An almost Apple TV competitor.

According to the article MS is working on a true next-gen console that will come AFTER the "Xbox Lite" and will be the true successor to the Xbox 360.

Hmmm...would make sense from a consumer stand point. Make a cheap ass tiny Xbox branded media set top box to compete with companies that are already doing this and releasing a true console on down the road.

My only problem is that if the next true Xbox is going to be released after this ARM based box that means that rumors are true of a 2014-2015 release date...which if thats the case then it truly makes me sick to my stomach...I can't take console ports for 3 more years.

Looks like it might finally be time for me to find a new hobby...
 
Oops...didn't pay attention to when that article was written...so its probably old news by now. Sorry!
 
"I was going to shell out $60 for Battlefield 3, but I settled for Angry Birds instead."
- no gamer, ever.
 
Console games are nowhere the size of ios games. Physical media still got its place for now.
 
Everyone is wrong here.

There will be optical drives in consoles.

Ghetto people cannot afford high speed internet.

How are they suppose to buy used Madden titles.
 
Budzman said:
Everyone is wrong here.

There will be optical drives in consoles.

Ghetto people cannot afford high speed internet.

How are they suppose to buy used Madden titles.
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Blatantly racist and I love it!
 
Sovnade said:
People use optical drives still? I haven't used mine in 5 years...I don't even install windows off of a DVD anymore.

Can't imagine what someone would be using it connected to a TV for...
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Because I still rent DVD's and my 400 Disc changer is nearly full and doesn't have a rental slot.

Durrrr!
 
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