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In 5 Years, Games Experience Will Move From Discrete To Indiscrete, Says EA CEO (theverge.com)
The Verge has an insightful interview of Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. In the wide-ranging interview, Wilson has talked about how the landscape of video games have changed over the years, and where it will be in the next few years. One remarkable comment he has made is about how video games will move from discrete experience that we have today to indiscrete experience in the next coming years. From the article (condensed): The biggest shift I think we'll see is games moving from being a discrete experience to an indiscrete experience. When I was 15 years old, if I wanted to listen to music, I had a couple of choices. I could sit up all night and hope they'd play what I liked on the radio, or I could go down to the record store. [...] Today, by virtue of the fact that almost every device I own plays me music, and services like Spotify curate and cultivate and personalize that music for me, music permeates almost every aspect of my life. It's moved from being something I have to make a conscious decision to engage with, to something that really surrounds every aspect of my life from the minute I get up in the morning to the minute I go to bed at night. When we think about games today -- already we've got more people playing more games on more platforms in more geographies around the world than ever before. It's not just a console business, or a PC business, or even a mobile business. We've now got virtual reality and augmented reality and streaming, too. Now fast-forward that to the future, and you think about what the world looks like with a 5G network streaming latency-free gaming to every device you own. It's really easy to imagine that games would permeate our lives much the way digital music does today. From the minute I get up in the morning, everything I do has an impact on my gaming life, both discrete and indiscrete. The amount of eggs I have in my internet-enabled fridge might mean my Sims are better off in my game. That length of distance I drive in my Tesla on the way to work might mean that I get more juice in Need for Speed. If I go to soccer practice in the afternoon, by virtue of internet-enabled soccer boots, that might give me juice or new cards in my FIFA product. This world where games and life start to blend I think really comes into play in the not-too-distant future, and almost certainly by 2021.
You mean you're not excited for this future?
100% spot-on.
It's all about marketing more crap to consumers, dependent entirely upon the ubiquity of IoT devices. I absolutely do not want my grocer or it's suppliers to know what's in my fridge. I don't want a digital profile built about how often I participate in a sport so an insurance company can buy that list and find ways to charge me more, or for a black-hat to crack that list and find out when I'm not home.
There's going to be a tremendous push for this type of thing in the coming years because traditional advertising models are not generating the numbers they once were. Magazine and newspaper subscriptions are universally down. Terrestrial radio consumption is down. People are cutting the cable tv cord more and more. Ad blockers are thwarting efforts in web advertising. It's not just tomorrow's consumers that advertisers are scrambling to find ways to reach; they want something now.
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
I see a societal split coming. Folks a bit younger than me seem to embrace the benefits that they reap from handing over their privacy and letting everything connect with everything. Targeted ads are welcomed (then ignored) rather than causing paranoia and revulsion.
I find myself as a cranky old 39 year old tending the other way. Facebook was shutoff over a year ago, Google+ only logged into about twice, and I have ad-blockers shielding whatever I can. It costs me an extra $4 a month to get rid of Hulu ads, which I find to be well worth it. I am becoming more and more technophobic as time passes. I thoroughly do not understand the need to have a "smart" version of everything, and I am starting to really tire of the need to charge everything or replace the batteries. A mechanical kitchen scale went on my Xmas list instead of one that links with my smart phone.
It is less clear to me as to whether this is a generational difference, or if the younger set will also tire of all the inconsistent, buggy, and unsupported crap that mostly is broken quickly. Will they grow out of it as their lives get busier and they become wiser with their time and money?
Oh yeah, stay off my lawn!