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Sony, Microsoft Squabble Over Console Features, But the Real Opponent Is Apple
Nerval's Lobster writes "Now that Microsoft and Sony have unveiled their respective next-generation gaming consoles, the two companies have cheerfully resorted to firing broadsides at each other. Whether the current brouhaha has any effect on sales of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 (if hardcore gamers keep complaining, they may even convince Microsoft to knock $100 off the new Xbox and bring its pricing down to the PS4's level), it's also drowning out what many perceive as the real issue: gaming consoles face an existential threat from mobile devices, most notably those running iOS (with some threat from Android). First, there are signs that the hardcore gamer market is soft: console sales in the United States dropped 21 percent in 2012, and sales of new video-game cartridges haven't fared much better. Second, PC/console games such as X-Com have begun appearing on iOS; if that trend continues, the console companies will have more rivals to fight against. Third, Apple is developing a game controller for iOS which could make it an even more dedicated opponent — and convince other tech companies to follow in its footsteps. But don't tell any of that to Microsoft and Sony, which seem content to fire at each other."
Cartridge sales are extremely low, but that has nothing to do with PS3/4 or the Xbox family.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
We can talk about the mythical Apple TV with new console generation level graphics(which will make it expensive) when I see it.
Carts.....
So this was written by someone who understands the gaming market well then? In 1995 maybe.
- http://www.milkme.co.uk
Really, go visit an airport, library, park bench, McDs, waiting room, etc. People are playing games on their mobile phones or tablets.
If you still need high power, play it on your desktop. Consoles are throw-away electronics and their time in the sun is diminishing.
Now, if you'll excuse me I need to get a jump on early Christmas shopping... I need an Angry Birds bed set, Angry Birds jacket, Angry Birds underwear, Angry Birds bicycle, Angry Birds weed whacker, Angry Birds can opener, Ford Focus Angry Birds Limited Edition, Angry Birds home pregnancy kit, ...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
console sales in the United States dropped 21 percent in 2012, and sales of new video-game cartridges haven't fared much better.
What the hell would be considered a "new video-game cartridge"?
I know jargon in certain industries gets weird. I mean, I deal with tables, floors, clouds, nets, webs, pipes, and none of those are physical objects. But whoever is using the term "cartridge", in the game industry, in this year, deserves to be ignored as they are obviously stuck in the last century. Seriously, while you're back there warn them about 9/11 and Bush.
It's been 10ish years since we have seen a new console.....maybe that had a little to do with the drop in console purchases, everybody has one?
The world is now on auto-pilot.
People playing 99 cent time wasters aren't the same demographic as those spending $400 on a console to buy $60 games. If Apple come up with a PC type small box that runs games, and give billions to several devlopers, they will enter the gamers' market, their twee stuff on their iStuff is not taking a single cent away from xbox, ps3 or nintendo, other then child titles and all that useless fitness stuff women buy.
Apple is planning on taking on Microsoft and Sony. Lol with what a tablet? There is just no way a tablet alone can take on a dedicated gaming device. The deck is stacked clearly in MS and Sony's favor on that. Lets see dedicated devices do not have the same size constraints, do not have to deal with battery life, do not have to deal with powering a display, do not have to deal with mobility, do not have to deal with sketchy wifi/4g coverage.
I suppose someone will chime in suggesting they mean the Apple TV which could be a valid point, except the market penetration of those are MUCH smaller, and the fact that they do not have any AAA titles that rival the competitors.
Controller or not, there are no Apple devices that compete directly with xbox and ps.
18 months ago, Apple as a serious threat to the established console makers looked plausible. It looks a lot less so now.
iOS is becoming a much less credible gaming proposition with every day that passes. Why? Shovelware IAP-laden crap which barely even qualifies as "games". Ok, occasionally you get games like X-Com or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition which try to swim against the tide; but even there, they're never anything more than slightly inferior ports of games available on other platforms.
Finding anything worth playing on iOS is getting harder and harder. Square-Enix and Cave put out a few titles worth a look - but even Square-Enix have gone down the route recently of pay-to-win shovelware.
At the same time, the low-priced offerings on the consoles - and on the Playstation Store in particular - have soared in quality. If you want a mobile device right now that can play high quality indie games, sold at a reasonable price, then you don't want an iPhone or iPad, you want a Vita.
Indeed, though the Vita's failure as a "PS3 in your pocket" is now almost complete (barring the occasional decent game such as Littlebigplanet Vita or Soul Sacrifice) the machine's sales seem to be trending upwards on the back of a decently priced but rigorously quality-controlled low-budged and indie scene.
How many times will people think that the iOS gaming and the HD console gaming is the same market? this is bullshit. yes there is some overlap, yes there is a bit of cannibalisation because time is a limited ressource, but no one can compare the experience of a AAA game on a PC or next gen console with what you can get on even an iPad.
even if it's streamed on a TV, even with a controller. the hardware is incomparable, the promise of the experience is completely different.
let's stop with this "new apples are disrupting oranges!" please.
Just like PCs became faster and replaced Unix workstations at many places, the low end devices are becoming faster and are threatening the dedicated gaming consoles. Mostly all you need is a good quality controller and you can fairly use high end PC to replace your gaming console. Newer Wi-Fi standards are becoming faster by the day (to easily connect controller to PC) and also virtual controllers like Kinect can easily be ported to PC, so that shouldn't be a bottleneck. The game publishers will be more than willing to support open (relatively speaking) platforms as they don't have to invest huge amount upfront and don't have to pay per game commission to console makers. As of now, I am not planning to upgrade my gaming console. I will wait and watch whether it is worth or not.
Mobile gaming is always just about to take off and has been that way for like 10 years. It's just happening. It can even stop the 3DS from continually growing and it's a direct competitor to it.
Hardcore gamers are not on consoles, they're on PCs. Consoles have always had fairly dumbed down gaming experiences compared to what is available on PCs.
When consoles became a "big thing", it was the non-hardcore gamers who went there, and the hardcore types that stayed on the PC. Consoles didn't have the right kinds of controllers, the games were more dumbed down, etc.
So, about this:
First, there are signs that the hardcore gamer market is soft: console sales in the United States dropped 21 percent in 2012,
... those are not the hardcore gamers, those are the "middle-core" gamers.
Consoles succeeded in a vacuum. When your Apple or PC couldn't really play like the glorious dedicated devices in arcades you needed a console. Now you don't. Computer hardware, even the cheapest, can do pretty well for MMO, 3D experience (not great, but good enough for most and bet on it most don't shell for an $800 video card.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The iPad and iPhone gaming market exists, but it's limited. It's a casual gaming device to satisfy you as you wait for your flight. The "hardcore" market is soft for a couple of reasons. Keeping the current gen system around for 7 years was a bad idea. Increasing development cost too rapidly was a bad idea that Nintendo warned Sony and MS about. Now we have good games like Tomb Raider, but Developers and Publishers are spending far too much to make them. The adjustment will be the companies who are bad at business will die. I'd put money on Square dying given how they turned success into failure. Not even stratospheric Kingdom Hearts sales will save them if they keep overspending. Keep in mind not a single KH game has exceeded 6 Million in sales, but I bet they budget for exceeding 6. This is what is killing the market. Not the witches poisoned Apple.
Isn't that because the current generation is 7 years old? You're actually shocked that fewer people are buying computers designed with 2005 technology?
No shit, sales are soft because the consoles are as old as dirt and all we have been getting lately is the same old same, not to mention this is the time of years when sales ALWAYS goes down because hey! Its summer, people actually want to go outside and enjoy the nice weather, who woulda thunk it?
But the ONLY console maker that has to worry about the iPad is Nintendo, they have bet the farm on the casual market who is too busy playing with their pads to care about the Wii U, especially since the big gimmick this time is the Wii U actually coming with a pad of its own and so many being burnt by the Wii being the home of a handful of decent games and a mountain of shovelware.
As for the rest of the market? Some will go with Xb1, probably more will go with PS4 thanks to lower prices on the hardware and MSFT's well publicized douchebaggery as of late, and with the prices of PCs never cheaper and the games so much more affordable some will join us PC gamers on our side of the fence, especially since HDMI makes pretty much any PC made in the last 5 years usable just like a console. Things are slowing down now because duh! Nobody is wanting to sink money into old consoles when new consoles will be out before Xmas.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
And it's vastly easier and simpler to pick up an iOS device and simply tap an app to start playing.
But once you tap the app, how do you control the character in the game? A flat sheet of glass gives the thumbs no tactile feedback as to where the on-screen action buttons are. Swipes on the left third of the screen can substitute for an analog stick, as first seen in Super Mario 64 DS and Metroid Prime Hunters First Hunt, but how can the player make sure he doesn't miss the jump, fire main weapon, and fire secondary weapon buttons? What's the uptake for clip-on Bluetooth gamepads?
It has amazed me how hard it is to find good games for mobile devices. I'm a big-time gamer, I'd much rather play a game than watch TV for entertainment. It is my primary goof-off activity. So I have a nice powerful smartphone (Android in this case), and it would be nice to have some portable games for it.
Some I want just for quick things, like waiting in the doctor's office or the like. Those are reasonably easy to find, I have a small collection of simplistic titles that do the trick for that. Still though it took a good bit of wading through crap to find them, and there were some things that initially looked promising but turned out to be "pay-2-win" that wanted to suck tons of money out of your pocket.
However I also wanted some with more substance, for if I'm traveling or something like that. Those... Well results haven't been great. I've bought some of the highest rated and reviewed stuff and so far it has been at best ok, either than Plants vs Zombies (which I already had on my PC). These are games that would be 5 or 6 of 10, maybe 7 in rare cases on the PC or a console, but are the "best" you find. Symphony of Eternity, NFS Most Wanted, etc are ok to play, but they really aren't up to what I'm used to.
Then some games that used to be good go to shit. Like Zenoia. Not a wonderful game, but at least a reasonably competent Zelda type. I have the first two. There are more... but again they are all pay-2-win crap.
Now compare that to the PC. I have more games then I can play. I have games on Steam I literally haven't installed yet, because I don't have time to play them yet, and I have another list of games I'd like to buy, if I have time. My problem isn't finding games I want, it is finding the free time to play them all.
I'll believe iOS or Android can compete with Sony and Nintendo if I start to see some serious amount of high quality titles out. Not a small handful, many of which are ports, but a real library that regularly sees new releases.
X-Com is a great example: That launched a year ago for consoles and PCs. I played it and loved it. So now had I waited I could get it, with lesser graphics, and a rather cramped UI to be touch enabled... No thanks. I'll stick with it on the first-flight systems, thanks.
q: how many girl console gamers do you know?
How many games do the girls you know have on their phone?
My answers are: 2 and if my ex is anything to go by, 50+. Every single smartphone owning girl I know have many games on their smartphone. The mobile gaming market is many many times larger than the console market.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Is it just me, or is the tone of this article and the use of superlatives suggesting that it was written by an Apple fanboy? Or worse, their marketing division?
The content may indeed be factual, but the tone makes me suspicious, and somewhat mistrustful of anything reported.
Never said they're the same market. However one market is growing and will cannibalise the other segment. The other market is becoming increasingly marginalised and filled with low-risk, unoriginal sequels, as it is way too expensive to develop for.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
You need to do some research. The actual figures are:
100,000,000 (Angry Birds doesn't get to count the 982 million copies given away for free or its sequels/spin-offs, meaning this number is for Tetris) x $1 is less than 34,010,000 (not even gonna count Wii Sports which more than doubles Mario Kart Wii and actually was a separate purchase in Japan) x $50
In other words, just Mario Kart Wii alone is worth what the entire Angry Birds franchise would have been worth if it didn't give away so many free copies.
since march 7 2012 and january 1, 2013 Apple sold 6.1 million apple tv, in fy12 q2 Microsoft sold 8.2 million Xbox