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[#Phonepunk#]

also if you click on this author's other stories they are pretty funny. dude spent all summer screaming about an incoming housing crisis, which went against industry predictions, and he was entirely wrong about that, as his most recent article asks if the housing industry is "recession proof".

must be nice to have a job where you can be wrong all the time.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

As I’ve said many a time, when everything goes digital I’ll give up gaming for good. From Atari 2600 days to PS5 if that’s the case then so be it.

I don’t feel like you game for the right reasons if you would give it up just because you can’t have a box on a shelf.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I will never understand why people are so eager for the inferior gaming experience.

Not everybody wants to mess with a PC. Why won’t you people get that through your fucking heads man LOL.

I love my PC, but it can be frustrating at time. There are many reasons why people would choose console.

 

[Moogle11]

Nah. Internet availability at the needed speed, latency and lack of data caps is still a couple generations away.

I‘m all for it once the tech is there to get latency and input lag more tolerable. I’ve been fully digitally and mostly streaming (or library borrowing) for music, movies and books for years. I got over collecting when I realized I was rarely revisiting things and having a bunch of media and dedicated devices just doesn’t fit our retirement plans of moving around the world. That’s still likely a couple decades down the road, but I’d love it if every game can be streamed like movies and music can by then so I’d just need an app and some small set top box to access everything.

 

[Stuart360]

By that time I wonder how much Gigabit internet will be worldwide and will data caps still exist.

Well if we are talking 15 years from now, i think at that point even 'terrible' internet will probably be like 150mb+, even in poor countries, which is more than fast enough for game streaming.
For me it will depend how popular Microsofts and Sony's streaming content is by he time we reach mid way through the PS6/Xbox 5 generation. If by that half way point the streaming content and subscriptions are over 50%, and game sales have dropped below streaming subscriptions, i would expect one or both Microsoft and Sony to go full streaming once the PS6/Xbox5 gen ends.

I cant see current gen being last, its just too soon. It all depends how much of an uptake there is over the next 10+ years with Microsofts and Sony's streaming services.

 

[pratyush]

People are stupid and buy wherever is pushed on them by corporations that means nothing sales has nothing to do with my point

They are irrelevant in terms of the necessity for gaming you don't need a console anymore to play games they are a choice now choices are good

Cloud gaming is five years from being perfected it will be the norm
In the near future people are either going to be mega wealthy or dirt poor the people who can't get good internet will also be irrelevant

As if streaming will not be from "big corporations". It's available right now and hardly anyone uses it and that includes people who access to high speed internet.

 

[Ultra Violento]

Nah, there's still the ps5 pro to be had and I doubt it's stoping at 5.

 

[ripeavocado]

This was what my friend who is a Nintendo fanboy was saying months ago. When Stadia was first announced, he was hoping for Stadia to destroy Sony but it didn't.

Now he's banking on Nintendo and Microsoft to combine their powers to destroy Sony so they have to sell buildings to stay afloat. He wants Microsoft to buy out as many developers and publishers as possible but leave Capcom out as he wants Monster Hunter on the switch.

He's telling everyone to get an Xbox Series X and sub to Gamepass ultimate instead of getting a ps5.

should friend should got to an analyst and therapist

 

[#Phonepunk#]

all digital future is fine for some. for the elite with great internet, good for you. you get to rent everything instead of owning it. congrats. most of the world does not and will not live like you.

we are decades away from cloud gaming being widespread. lol @ "five years from being perfected" that is hilarious. Stadia can't even get off the ground. i'm sorry, but anyone who thinks an all digital future is a couple years away is living in fantasy land.

 

[Breakage]

Sony Interactive Entertainment trademarks PS6, PS7, PS8, PS9, and PS10 in Japan
Sony secures short names for potential future PlayStations.

Sony Interactive Entertainment trademarks PS6, PS7, PS8, PS9, and PS10 in Japan

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed trademarks for “PS6,” PS7,” “PS8,” “PS9,” and “PS10” in Japan, likely as security for future PlayStati…

www.gematsu.com

 

[Arkam]

Until we can efficiently virtualize gaming HW, there will be consoles and discrete GPUs (as they are one in the same for this discussion of local vs cloud rendering). All current streaming (PS Now, Stadia, Xcloud, Geforce Now, Amazon) are either using modified consoles or analogous PC gaming racks. As a result it creates a stable environment to target for development, however it also creates a HW compute limit that can only be solved by replacing HW (which is costly). It is also a sunk cost and an inelastic environment that cannot scale to demand (or lack there of). Therefore it is in the interest of (most) developers and service providers to only update the HW every few years or "generation" and be very conservative in the HW amount per given region. When we can virtualize, the major players (Amazon, MS, Google) can invest in bulk compute and rendering and offer an elastic environment that makes sense.


Then there is all the other things people have brought up, internet speeds, data caps, etc..... we have a few more major hurdles to get over before we can start talking about the transition.

So, odds are good that we get another Generation of consoles, if not a couple more after that.

 

[Tickle My Tendies]

Not likely.

This comes up all the time and I will never agree with it until it actually happens, which I doubt it will within the next 20 years.

Streaming simply isn't a viable option for too many people, and simply doesn't match standard PC/console experiences.

 

[HarryKS]

Nah dawg.

 

[Entroyp]

Playstation 4 was to be the last home console ever and Playstation 5 is tracking to be a bigger seller.

Too early to tell if cloud gaming will have what it takes to makes PCs and Consoles obsolete over night.

 

[BigBooper]

Balogna. This has been the media narrative for the last three console launches because they are lazy, uninterested, letter churners. People will be willing to pay for a better experience. Unless they make some massive improvements in network tech in 5 years, streaming will not be close to as good of an experience.

 

[Imtjnotu]

There’s like 40 million of us

Lol all 83.

It's like 24 million of us in Socal alone

 

[Techies]

I will never understand why people are so eager for the inferior gaming experience.

If I was a kid, and my parents bought me an Xbox Series S so that I could play Fortnite with my friends I'd be happy.

 

[Valentino]

Microsoft honest to god don't make me think "gaming" at all. Just put a fucking games out with a good idea please. All I think about with Microsoft is online games with no story and lower graphics and people chatting online and the odd occasional game that is never remembered thereafter. They've done nothing to make me think "classic game"

 

[InfiniteUnrest]

It might be serious this time, though. Just look at the incredible momentum of the Stadia and XCloud.

Joke post? What momentum?

 

[Tschumi]

I sincerely doubt it.. what a naive take.. Nintendo, PS5, these consoles are clearly attempts to push gaming in new directions, the idea that they would just stop midway through this clear attempt to perpetuate the medium is just silly.

The XSX is another question.. Microsoft seems to have not realised that the power advantage they enjoyed with the og xbox a) can't be replicated when the console is launched at the same time as that generation's PlayStation, and b) doesn't make as much difference to visuals etc, thanks to the way gaming engines have spent the last 6 odd years trying to keep games looking better without over taxing 2013 consoles~

Microsoft are looking like console pariahs at the moment because they've built the ultimate console for a Halo:CE style game changer but nothing they do could possible change the console game in the same way.. so they've jettisoned all pretence of AAA aspirations and are looking for iterative gameplay models to make more money from micro and subs..

So yeah maybe next generation they'll just try to make something like a switch for FPS fans~

But no, consoles are nowhere near done. I doubt they ever will be...

... Unless it becomes something digital that can be streamed to your tv, since that would presumably hugely reduce the environmental impact..

.. so yeah, if they get quantum computers going, i predict one day having a console that is a single quantum computer in Japan streaming games to hundreds of millions of users' sony 16k TVs simultaneously.

Edit: my concept for the xSwitch, the next generation of xBox that wants to make elite fps gaming portable... It's a controller you connect with Bluetooth to your tv and WiFi 6 to your network, and the controller itself is the console, with a hella robust streaming system a la Vita... So you can go to any Bluetooth pc, pull your controller out of your bag, plug in and compete for rankings in cod...

You would become this guy:

(He's holding a white dualshock 1, anyone who doesn't know)

 

[The Hamburglar]

LOL Microsoft started saying they see Amazon and Google as competitors the moment when it became obvious they won't be able to compete in traditional consoles market. No idea why anyone buys corporate PR damage control at face value.

They keep saying google and Amazon are the competitors. But green burger and Phil I’m a gamer Spenser keep talking about console wars and how he wants you to be able to hear him over the console.

 

[DarkMage619]

There will be all digital consoles before a move to cloud gaming. Like what was said before there isn't enough internet infrastructure to support cloud gaming exclusively. Especially when you think of what will be necessary when EVERYONE is using it.

 

[wvnative]

Not this shit again.

 

[Larogue]

Cloud gaming is also great for the environment. Servers are highly utilized all day, all year, instead of making millions of home consoles that are used 1-2 hours for a couple days per month, then dumped into the sea.

 

[RebellYell]

Playstation is on its last legs. Nintendo is dominating them on home turf and as soon as Bethesda start churning out their IP's in a few years time, the western market will jump ship and join the Xbox ecosystem.

I know it is a lot to take for the people who have backed Sony consoles for the longest time but your platform is going the way of the dodo and there isn't a thing anyone can do to stop it.

 

[mckmas8808]

Well if we are talking 15 years from now, i think at that point even 'terrible' internet will probably be like 150mb+, even in poor countries, which is more than fast enough for game streaming.
For me it will depend how popular Microsofts and Sony's streaming content is by he time we reach mid way through the PS6/Xbox 5 generation. If by that half way point the streaming content and subscriptions are over 50%, and game sales have dropped below streaming subscriptions, i would expect one or both Microsoft and Sony to go full streaming once the PS6/Xbox5 gen ends.

I cant see current gen being last, its just too soon. It all depends how much of an uptake there is over the next 10+ years with Microsofts and Sony's streaming services.

The bolded makes NO SENSE at all. Why cut off 40% of your revenue, when the demand clearly isn't there. The music and movie industry still sells physical media for goodness sakes lol.

 

[Barry Burton]

One of these times, they will be right. I'm not sure this is it, though.

 

[TheContact]

I thought about a "console" the other day that just plugs into your modem and sits in your closet somewhere, and whatever device you have just connects to it. Sort of like the cloud services except it's just done locally instead.

 

[Stuart360]

The bolded makes NO SENSE at all. Why cut off 40% of your revenue, when the demand clearly isn't there. The music and movie industry still sells physical media for goodness sakes lol.

Physical for music and ,movies is tiny now compared to digital (unfortunately). My point was that at the point streaming subscriptions take over actual game sales, one of them IMO will decide to go streaming only.
People forget they make little profit on hardware sales, and usually sell at a slight loss, and thats not taking into account the R&D involved. Its much simpler and cheaper for them to just have you streaming their content. Thats why they push it so hard and pay for positive articles about it, its corporate brainwashing and has been done for decades.

EDIT. I also said by the half way point of that gen, meaning there would still be 3 or 4 yrears before any potential next gen, time where subs etc would only continue to grow.
We are never going to get to the point where 100% of all gamers are subbed to streaming services, and then and only then will Microsoft and Sony drop hardware. Thats not how it works.

 

[Demon2blades]

Heard this loads of times now if anything changes I'm sure Sony will change with the market as they did going from PS3 to PS4 including changing their online infrastructure again if needs be .... If Google are ms competition how would ms fair if Google cut xcloud from Android phones and apple did the same where would that leave things for ms ? That's something I've been thinking about they will be competing platforms after all .

 

[Radical_3d]

Ownership of the infrastructure makes it very costly / difficult to expand. In the US 3 providers work in mostly oligopolistic manner. I remember in Poland in the late 1990s the government ordered the public telecom company, who owned all the cables, to make them available to other providers.

The infrastructure here is as well private owned. Sometimes when a company doesn’t reach to a certain population it rents the cables and still offer competitive prices. Not to mention that no one ever though of a data cap except for mobile contracts (and it’s disappearing fast).

 

[mckmas8808]

If I was a kid, and my parents bought me an Xbox Series S so that I could play Fortnite with my friends I'd be happy.

And then you'd turn 16 at some point and have your own money and want to buy something else.

 

[Nezzeroth]

I always forget how dumb the beginning of a new console generation is with all the hot takes.

 

[Interfectum]

I love how the media keeps pushing cloud gaming as the future yet every metric we have available shows the majority of consumers just don't give a shit. Stadia, Geforce Now, PS Now, Xcloud, etc are all niche as fuck. These are services trying to find an audience that doesn't exist.

 

[Barakov]

Same recycled headlines, new console generation. As long as data caps exist here in the US the so-called "digital future" is a pipe dream and nothing more on consoles.

 

[Interfectum]

Same recycled headlines, new console generation. As long as data caps exist here in the US the so-called "digital future" is a pipe dream and nothing more on consoles.

Even outside the US I'm not seeing these services gain much traction. Data caps is just the current excuse as to why these services are not taking off like they "should."

I love the idea that the poor little gamer who can't afford a PS5 or Series X can somehow afford an iPhone 11 w/ a Razer Kishi to stream games over their fantastic wifi connection.

 

[Neofire]

There’s like 40 million of us

Y'all even got high speed internet in the Tent cities and skid row?

 

[Deleted member 801069]

Y'all even got high speed internet in the Tent cities and skid row?

Sure just post up near a starbucks

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Remember when the ps4 was going to be the last console ever because mobile gaming was going to take over? I member

 

[MrS]

For tens of millions of people, PlayStation is gaming. Childhood memories are inextricably linked to the brand. It ain't going away anytime soon. Cerny will already be thinking about PS6.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

For tens of millions of people, PlayStation is gaming. Childhood memories are inextricably linked to the brand. It ain't going away anytime soon. Cerny will already be thinking about PS6.

I'd argue even more. The only name more synonymous with gaming is Nintendo.

 

[HundredThousandTrillion]

Sony's already working behind the scenes to pivot to services. Steve Jobs' dream of the black box that can do X and Y and Z and be anything you need it to be is just around the corner.

 

[vkbest]

I though was PS4 the last console. I’m shocked because this news

 

[Fuz]

I like being able to stream games myself.

You're part of the problem.

I will never understand why people are so eager for the inferior gaming experience.

PR brainwashing.

 

[base]

People writing such articles should lose their jobs. They have no fucking idea about gaming.

 

[base]

Consoles nowadays are budget PCs with a fancy cases so they will always be around as long as there are buyers.

Is that so? Then build a custom pc for 500 euros that can handle at least 1440p?

 

[anothertech]

Yes, consoles are doomed. For the third decade in a row. The numbers show the market share is increasing out of fear of pachter predictions.

Also MS isn't competing with Sony because they don't have a fucking chance in hell. Stadia and Amazon on the other hand, they got this boys.

 

[StormCell]

I think it would be a more interesting piece exploring a hypothetical set of circumstances that would actually lead to the last Playstation console.

Imagine a near future where SmartTVs and/or smart phones are capable enough to play Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft, Madden, and FIFA... and the games actually look reasonably good enough such that the people playing these games are satisfied.

This is the hypothetical scenario I find interesting, because it actually does appear, to me, that Microsoft is hedging against a future industry takeover by Google/Amazon, and Nintendo has been on a similar path away from the traditional box against the mobile platforms by Apple/Google.

Take one long look at Japan and then consider the up-and-coming generation of American gamers. I can't help noticing that the big cash cow games are generally not the most expensive productions. It doesn't take much to extrapolate from that a future where if one of two required devices (phone or TV) is capable enough of playing the mainstream cash-grab, we may see a substantial market shrink for the dedicated home console, perhaps similar to what has happened in Japan.

In that scenario, after the PS5, I could fathom a PS6 being the last traditional form factor home console. I figure there must be a tipping point whereby the number of consoles sold would not be sufficient to justify continuing, especially if it didn't cover the full cost of hardware R&D. Would Sony then become Re-Vita-lized?? lol Would they attempt to grow the market with new hardware form factors?

Frankly, I believe that even Nintendo is likely weighing the benefits and costs of dedicated hardware after Switch. Switch is selling gangbusters, but people really overestimate the longevity of today's sales. Things will always change 1-year out and especially 2-years out.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Sony is a very small fish when compared to Microsoft. Most of Sony’s businesses are falling, these days the PlayStation brand is their biggest earner, I expect the mobile division to go under next.

Microsoft had more capital than Sony when they entered gaming but this has never mattered

 

[Hobbygaming]

Same points i brought up before.

A new tide will push out the older tide. It is inevitable the bigger fishes will eat up Sony's pie, just like how Sony pushed out Sega and Nintendo.
And when you have old Jimbo at the reign, it is quite scary imo. Can Jim switch as fast as Nintendo and be contented with a smaller pie and a different type of PS?

As long as PS is still putting their resources into gaming then they'll weather any storm. It's funny looking back to when people thought Stadia would be a threat to PS lol