The fact is that consoles are one of those things where if you can shave a few bucks off the thing, you do it. And the console companies are going to want to move to a subscription model for that matter as well. Even the software developers will be in favor of this model as well. Anything that saves them pressing and packaging costs they'll be in favor of.
The model will be that you buy the console for cheap, discounted if you pre-pay for N months of coverage with the associated online service. I tend to think there will be a variety of subscription models from 'pay as you play' to 'all you can play'.
The software companies will deal with the console manufacturers and their servers to get their software loaded on a system. They can do things like bug fixes and other sorts of updates seamlessly. Even if a title flops, there's a greater chance for the problems with the game to be fixed and a new version uploaded.
Oh yes. Piracy becomes a lot harder. Software companies will love that. Region enforcement is an interesting issue, though in theory the servers can determine the incoming IP address and place the region its coming from.
The consoles will be cheaper and more reliable because there's no moving parts in them. That means a lot in the console business where even ten bucks in the hardware costs can add up.
The big downside is that once the servers are shut down, the box becomes junk. Of course the companies might find a way to turn PCs into servers once they're no longer interested in running their own. The software companies selling the games will be interested in that to make a second round of profits. First you rent the game and then when the console is dead, sell the game a last time to the enthusiasts.
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The fact is that consoles are one of those things where if you can shave a few bucks off the thing, you do it. And the console companies are going to want to move to a subscription model for that matter as well. Even the software developers will be in favor of this model as well. Anything that saves them pressing and packaging costs they'll be in favor of.
The model will be that you buy the console for cheap, discounted if you pre-pay for N months of coverage with the associated online service. I tend to think there will be a variety of subscription models from 'pay as you play' to 'all you can play'.
The software companies will deal with the console manufacturers and their servers to get their software loaded on a system. They can do things like bug fixes and other sorts of updates seamlessly. Even if a title flops, there's a greater chance for the problems with the game to be fixed and a new version uploaded.
Oh yes. Piracy becomes a lot harder. Software companies will love that. Region enforcement is an interesting issue, though in theory the servers can determine the incoming IP address and place the region its coming from.
The consoles will be cheaper and more reliable because there's no moving parts in them. That means a lot in the console business where even ten bucks in the hardware costs can add up.
The big downside is that once the servers are shut down, the box becomes junk. Of course the companies might find a way to turn PCs into servers once they're no longer interested in running their own. The software companies selling the games will be interested in that to make a second round of profits. First you rent the game and then when the console is dead, sell the game a last time to the enthusiasts.