@@megacherv Sony doesn't own Major League Baseball. The league forced them to make it multiplatform. You're not going to be playing God of War, Spider-Man or Ghost of Tsushima on your Xbox. But we will be playing Indy, Doom, Halo and Gears on our PS5's soon enough.
It was just a few years ago when people were saying PlayStation wouldn’t put games on PC, now all of their games come to PC within a reasonable certainty on the release window. Just a month or two ago, people were losing their mind over Xbox “This is an Xbox” campaign. Then Sony announced cloud streaming for the portal. You can buy games from the PlayStation score and stream them to the portal without a PS5. I can say with certainty that Sony will have a web app, smart tv app, and mobile app. Sony just launched Lego Horizon on the Switch. I say that to say, we have no clue what these companies will and won’t do. If MS manages to merge Windows / Xbox OS into a compelling experience similar to SteamOS but with better compatibility, then those Sony games will be on Xbox whether Sony agrees or not.
It was just a few years ago when people were saying PlayStation wouldn’t put games on PC, now all of their games come to PC within a reasonable certainty on the release window. Just a month or two ago, people were losing their mind over Xbox “This is an Xbox” campaign. Then Sony announced cloud streaming for the portal. You can buy games from the PlayStation score and stream them to the portal without a PS5. I can say with certainty that Sony will have a web app, smart tv app, and mobile app. Sony just launched Lego Horizon on the Switch. I say that to say, we have no clue what these companies will and won’t do. If MS manages to merge Windows / Xbox OS into a compelling experience similar to SteamOS but with better compatibility, then those Sony games will be on Xbox whether Sony agrees or not.
Ultimately it’s a catch-22 - the biggest flaw in “business growth” mentality is that everything eventually has a point of diminishing returns. The way the game industry has gone, games are getting more expensive to make, with longer dev cycles. It will eventually reach the point where even if an “exclusive” game gets 100% engagement with console owners, it still won’t be profitable. The reality is that at its best, Nintendo has only seen a little over 50% attach rate (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe), where Sony/Xbox have seen maybe 25-30% at best. It is a game of numbers that these companies know they can’t win with the current models and is why you’ve seen Sony start to sell their games on PC. It is MUCH cheaper to port a game to another platform, because much of the legwork has already been done - as such, it can become more profitable sooner. Nintendo is the clear exception here - Switch is a simpler console, therefore it is cheaper to make and develop for - they make the least revenue of the three, however, their profit margins are the highest. SIE has the most revenue, but the highest operating costs, therefore, they are, on paper, the least profitable, even if the actual profit is greater than the other two. Business is a game of numbers - but unfortunately, they pay more attention to percentages than actual hard figures. You WILL see SIE eventually bring their titles to PC faster, and maybe even consider multiplat (think Nintendo) sonnet than anyone thinks. As a matter of fact, I would say that they’ll specifically avoid Xbox on principle, but run to Nintendo eventually. Anyone remember that the Horizon Lego Adventure, an SIE published game, went to Switch?
"your hardware of choice won't dictate which games you can and can't play - only the storefront you get them from" is something i've considered a good thing for a while - and i still do, i think? but there's something so insidiously and scummily corporate about the inverse idea that games would now be (exclusively) (heh, exclusively) restricted by license and company instead of hardware. because you know they'll start to go the netflix/hulu/hbo/amazon route and start charging subscriptions, thus forcing most people to choose one company and stick to it and restarting the console war as a storefront war. maybe i'm doomposting a bit but while i am looking forward to the new wave of games that pass the indie line but don't quite hit the triple-A space, i worry about all the smaller companies that may be snapped up by larger conglomerates and then promptly dissolved purely so a spreadsheet somewhere can have a slightly bigger number on it. among other issues. I'm enjoying Jim's contributions to the team, very insightful and a nice counterbalance to the other two nutters
Smaller companies really need to resist buyouts, now more than ever. I would hope that enough of them realise what it means for their future & instead limit their ambition until they can grow slowly.
WTF are you talking about LOL. There's 8 billion people on earth. It will take a really really long time for not enough people in the world to not buy their systems. Even if birth rates fell by 50% it would take at least a century or longer for that to happen.
Corporate greed (or perhaps the inevitable reaching in all industry of final stage capitalism in general) has led to the need for the end of console exclusivity. Nobody is asking companies to spend more time and money on one game than Peter Jackson spent on the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. And the elephant in the room? Nobody when they have this conversation is talking about seeing Mario on Playstation anytime soon....
there is also the fact that when building a game, PC is the default, if it works on what you are building it on is literally the first step for any dev. Consoles are all and have always been the extra step and with how programing environments handle compilation now, it is usually fairly easy to recompile for each of the consoles. That is the only reason so many games become multi platform now.
Being able to choose where I play my games is fantastic! I'm tired of purchasing multiple consoles just to play maybe 4 exclusives a year. The first console to give us access to our PC games will end this stupid platform war.
4 per year? I bought a PS4 literally just to play Bloodborne and nothing else. If consoles went away tomorrow and everything were on PC I would be overjoyed.
@@tooki3698Actual physical PCs are still far too noisy for the living room though, and you have to chuck a ton of money at them to get decent graphics as the hardware and operating system weren’t designed primarily for gaming. And then there’s the risk of viruses, malware, etc. and keeping drivers up to date. And because there isn’t standardisation across all the internals, it’s still possible for a game to be unplayable on your particular snowflake PC, with nobody able to help you. Consoles are still the ultimate “plug and play” devices for sociable gaming.
Hopefully the rumors of a Windows / Xbox OS Hybrid are true. Imagine something like SteamOS but with the compatibility of Windows and a console like interface from Xbox. It wouldn’t matter what Sony agrees to, their games would be on Xbox.
I just bought a PS4 pro after owning a first gen PS4, STRICTLY to have better performance when playing Bloodborne. There's literally no other reason I need/want a PS4.. lol.
It does sting to see Xbox going 3rd party, I loved the original and 360. And Sony needs competition on multiple fronts to be pro consumer. But Nintendo is still strong as ever. They are still competition. Also, there have been rumors of a steam console. Ironically Steam could be the new third piece in gathering big 3, as a steam console could bring a steam library and Xbox launcher with it. They're the only ones who could step in and immediately own a large share of consumers.
I think that'll probably be exactly what happens, though anyone who already has a PC (and thus Steam library) won't need one because they can just stream it locally to any cheapo Android stick or smart TV.
Xboxs direction of travel will probably see multiple store fronts available on their next box, meaning Steam will be there. With a multiple storefront future as you have with pc today what will this mean for pricing of games, steam is generally significantly cheaper bia new releases...
Haha. Happy New Year mate! Btw - Iwata San quote: Even when I'm vaguely aware of how tough it's going to be, my baseline assumption is, "We'll work it out." A leader has no other choice. The assumption that we'll work it out makes the world go around. - p42 - Ask Iwata - Hobonichi
I like the hesitant optimism, but have you thought, recently, about the TNG episode 'The Neutral Zone' and how our economy today may not be the economy of the future.
First, this is the 2nd video I've seen with this host. He's a real get for EG, nice job 👌 Second, investors are assholes. The chase for endless growth and profits is so overplayed. Lastly, devs that make & support live service games are hurting the cause. Trying to addict/lock in gamers to a handful of titles when most ppl are already time poor is a stupid idea and is self-defeating for the industry.
It is not really universal that people disrespect those with experience. For example over in Japan, one of Atlus' top developers was like "I am feeling stifled creatively only making urban or apocalyptic fantasy." and Atlus was like "okay no prob, here your own development team! go crazy!" and made the game of the last year.
Well guess what the more money you spend on individual game projects the more money you got to make back. You simply cannot do that with exclusivity. Look at the amount of PS4s and PS5s sold. But people aren't buying the exclusives enough to justify these insane budgets. So you have to expand to multiple platforms and give new users access to your content.
It’ll definitely mean more expensive games. It’s like the death of accessible movies and media. Where you used to be able to buy films, tv shows etc…now you can only stream some stuff. It’s like companies don’t understand history. Yeah, they’ve trained young humans to no buy stuff. Let alone not having decent incomes. As an old man, my fear is media is feeding off itself. So as time moves on it regurgitates itself to lesser effect.
Just wait until the regurgitative AI stuff sweeps the market & then immediately begins eating itself because there's nothing new for it to draw on. My hope is that there's a space for one company with enough clout to keep making "old fashioned" games, films, etc. that will stand out & remind people of what they're missing, so the whole thing doesn't simply implode on itself. That requires a will that may not exist if companies keep employing corporate career-CEOs who don't actually give a toss about the companies they control though.
Lack of digital ownership is the giant elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Digital Distribution has killed value perception, the second hand market and the culture surrounding game trading and collecting. People simply don’t see their digital libraries as a valuable investment. Niche games and New IPs suffer most from this, as they are perceived as risks not worth taking. Indie games are merely a symptom of this larger disease. It simply doesn‘t pay off for publishers to make smaller, innovative games. And without innovation the industry is going to head into a crash, that simple. We need to be able to swap, trade and resell our digital licenses, the way we are able to with physical media. We need to own our games.
It's a sad time to live in when the hardware of your choice no longer has any relevance to the software, other than performance. What is the point of custom architectures, when they are just going to dish out the same end product as the rest? Remember when your computer had the best version of a particular game? It had the better soundtrack and had more playability, okay, maybe not the best graphics, Commodore tended to win that category, but the game in general is better on your micro. It led to the playground arguments of who had the better computer. Was it the Spectrum, or the C64? Amstrads never really got a look in, there just wasn't enough people fighting their corner. Now Intel-based games look and sound identically to AMD-based games, or ARM, or Snapdragon, Mediatek, NVidia... Why give us the choice anymore? They all do the same thing.
One potentially good outcome of all this would be if games became less bloated. Having a game that takes ages to complete, where half of it is filler 'content', should become a thing of the past. Young people don't have the attention span for all that busywork and old people don't have the time.
Is it a similar thing in the movie industry? I've heard the reason cgi looks worse now, compared to a number of years ago, is because they hired younger, cheaper, less experienced "interns" instead of paying for the best candidate for the job. Obviously the best candidate could then teach the "intern". Improving them and benefiting everyone. ...but that costs money, and it looks much better on paper to convince investors "we can get top quality for less. Less means more profit".
Yep, but that's also due to more of it being entirely CG instead of that being used to augment physical effects (which looks best of all), & the fact that the youth now don't give a crap & don't pay attention, nor know anything about what's come before, so they wouldn't notice anyway. It's already very rare to see anyone even mention the total lack of stylistic shadows in most films these days, but they're so seldom used & the end result is much worse for it. Nobody notices, nobody cares, nobody realises what's been taken from them. Why give someone with experience & knowledge a raise to keep them on when so few people would even realise what their input was?
I think Handheld and VR are actually really going to come into their own in the next generation tbh. VR when done right is incredibly immersive and Handheld gaming is just a better version of mobile gaming.
One thing I noticed as a seasoned gamer as well is the increase of indie game companies and games coming out. I mean has always been there, but it's increased significantly in size, which go back to what gamers wanted for several different play styles and stories. The other part is probably right about console era phasing out as exclusives go more multiple platform... at the same time handheld devices becoming the go to and seeing that Sony themselves is taking back the interest into handhelds we may be witnessing this more commonly used than anything else outside of VR. it'll be interesting especially in the next 10 to 20 years as it may come back in a good way and maybe wont need those 8k TVs anymore lol.
Xbox exists as an extension of Microsoft and used to just be the Microsoft gaming division. They have no skin in the game if their console goes under, never did. Sony Playstation does have the parent company to support them but if they don't have exclusives Playstation is done. This isn't the disc era any longer. the easy Piracy of the mostly unprotected discs and ease of chipping the console and exclusives is what made Playstation popular and Playstation has always fought piracy. Look at the PSVita, it died in it's infancy because they completely blocked the modding scene which made the PSP really popular. When exclusives no longer exist that will be Playstation's curtain call. Nintendo like Xbox produces games alongside their console. Their exclusives will either always be or they will just pivot into making even more games. It wouldn't be such a big deal for them other then maybe the price of a lot of their titles having to be lower and having to modernize when it comes to streaming and fan creations. The smart phone "games" are just extensions to their exclusive titles and barely worth a mention, as mobile gaming tends to be.
I'd be interested to know the average cost of a mobile phone that people game on, because aren't they console level cost these days? (Spread over contract)
People who buy on a contract don't work out that stuff, same way people who pay a subscription to play games don't work out that stuff. This is how the console makers managed to get people to pay twice to go online in the first place (a prospect that is entirely unacceptable to me).
Nice video, but please could I make a request. As someone who likes to express himself with his hands, it would be far less distracting for the viewer if your hands didn't come between your face and the camera. Quite a few UA-camrs do this, probably because no one ever mentioned it, but once you see it, you can't unsee it. Keep up the good work though. 👍
Creative people are always treated like crap by people in power, sadly. Interesting take, though from what I can tell just looking it up, it would appear that Elder Scrolls has become an X-box exclusive, which is interesting if disappointing. I do kind of miss the 16-bit era though, things were simpler back then...
I think Xbox's problem is they made their consoles unnecessary. Granted consoles usually are sold at a loss anyway, so maybe Microsoft is smart to shift Xbox away from hardware. I would like to see some Xbox controllers with Hall Effect sticks as a hardware product from Microsoft.
They definitely didn't intend on this happening, but MS is primarily a software company anyway so I doubt the larger corporation minds that much. The bigger issue is Game Pass making people not buy games either.
@@nightcatarts I haven't bought Starfield or Indiana Jones, yet, even though I really enjoy playing both games, because of that very reason - Game Pass. I suspect Ubisoft is experiencing a similar effect due to Ubisoft Plus, regarding games such as Star Wars: Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Ubisoft Plus may be skewing the sales statistics for games available through their subscription service.
Console exclusives, or any exclusivity, are mainly for the benefit of the company so they will do whatever makes sense business-wise. On the consumer-side, it just mainly satisfies our "you can't have what's mine" mentality. Other than that, it's not good for us.
well, the gen a and gen z's are buying $5k laptops and $3k phones (aud) so money is not the issue. The gaming industry I think, has reached the same point Hollywood has, it peaked. It told its stories. Games have basically been made in every variable possible based on our way of playing games. This is why remakes and remasters have been a big trend. What was the difference really from ps3, 4 and 5? I big of performance bump, but nothing that has revolutionalised gaming. It is more of the same with slightly better looking visuals and more expensive software to buy and create. The industry has devolved into making money over games. It will continue to come down more and more, until there is a total collapse, then will come back when something revolutionary changes how you play
to be honest exclusive games have been one of the most customer unfriendly things out there. if you want to play certain games with exclusivity you have to spend a lot of money for another console which a lot of people can't do. i couldn't play gears of war because i couldn't afford every console under the sun just to play a few games.
So little successful games come out when they do. The only real way to maximize profits is to put the game on every platform if possible. I dont really think getting rid of exclusivity as a bad thing. I own a xbox and my friend has a ps5 and a P.C. it's should be possible to play cross platform games together if we want to. As a series x owner I'm not upset if games also come to ps5. My series x has better graphical power then a ps5 but is cheaper then a ps5 pro. In the end you should be able to get what ever console you want to and that platform should try to get every game possible. It does make sense for each company to have its own exclusive. But those should be as minimal as possible for only a timed exclusive. Edit: people will always choose with there wallet. Younger audiences will eventually want better hardware then a phone.
I think the death of consoles in general are inevitable. With the only downside being players losing potentially huge libraries of games in the process. But consoles are already more PC like than ever. Players are also demanding more robust settings options, higher specs, and upgrades for older games now that back compat has become standard again. The age range for gamers is older on average now as well and is not the ‘for kids’ hobby it mostly once was. Consoles really only came about because back in the day, PC’s in the living room weren’t an easy task to tackle. However. with innovations like Steam OS, bringing a more console like experience to things like the Steam Deck, and PC gaming in general being far far easier for the end user experience, the time is right to attempt a console/PC hybrid again. Imagine devs only needing to work on a single platform version (PC), that players could ‘remaster’ themselves by boosting settings when they get new hardware, and having all their games playable on console, PC, and handhelds without the need to purchase separate versions, and it is a really appealing prospect. It also resolves back compat (aside from console titles that just never got PC ports) as players also gain access to already essentially remastered games at ultra settings, 4K, high fps, going back decades. Sony and XBox would basically enter the publishing wars, but also still could make ‘consoles’. You could have a Sony PC console that used dual sense, it’s own UI, and other features to stand out. The only problem being that taking a loss on hardware becomes less enticing when you don’t have a storefront to recoup costs by getting players into your restrictive ecosystem. So the 500 dollar console will be a thing of the past, and honestly companies like Valve or Epic would take up the mantle as they have storefronts to leverage (similar to the Steam Deck being at a ‘painful’ (according to Newell) low price point. And we have publishers acknowledging that PC will take priority in the future. Rockstar has even said it will be moving in this direction despite formerly being console centric with PC versions coming after console in the past, and Capcom stating that it sold more copies of it’s games on PC than all 3 consoles combined. The PC playerbase continues to outpace console growth with new users and this will only continue. It will be interesting to see where it goes, but I don’t think it will be for another gen or two if it happens. But even just Valve or XBox making a console that can access Steam and other PC storefronts, would severely impact Sony’s PC strategy, and if XBox leaves the console space entirely, this could also elongate the move to PC console experiences as Sony would want to retain it’s dominance as long as possible. I think a loooot of people are looking at PC lately though and there is a real opportunity here.
Multiplatform or not, I’m sticking with Switch and Steam. I don’t trust the other two whatsoever, but might pick up a game or two if something interesting ported. Gamepass is well positioned to become a/the Netflix of games in the future. But personally, I have no interest in the Netflixification of the gaming industry. I like owning games, and financially supporting the developers who keep us entertained.
I think you’re missing a fundamental difference between Microsoft and every other console manufacturer past and present: Microsoft entered the console market with a device that was not a console; it was simply shrunk down PC hardware with a software restriction that limited it to only playing games. A console is a device whose entire hardware design is aimed at playing games and nothing else. A PC is not designed for playing games, and neither is Windows. Everything that makes them able to play games is a workaround, and one that typically requires more powerful (and expensive) hardware just to get decent result. So Microsoft may well abandon the console market… but they were never really in it. Sony, since the PS4, have released kind-of-PC-like hardware, but with an operating system absolutely focussed on games. Nintendo… still consoles, I don’t see them ever changing. So yeah, we’ll see Microsoft owned titles on Xbox… and PlayStation games on PC. I don’t think we’ll ever see Sony’s titles on another proper console, and likewise with Nintendo.
Console exclusivity is causing AAA games to collapse because there is a definite number of console players. They need to expand to PC or the biggest market: mobile devices via cloud gaming as an alternative.
AAA mobile games sounds horrid when you consider the type of mobile games out there now. But I imagine a time where a fully fledged Civ or Elder Scrolls could live on a mobile phone.
late gen Zer here, I went from Playstation to PC simply because it’s cheaper, and there’s smaller more interesting games that don’t require a huge commitment, I also really enjoy having my whole library from 64 onwards, in one place. I do like that exclusives are mostly dead but i do wish that it didn’t come at the cost of there being very few small weird games from Sony. God i miss patapon.
Not really. They want to expand beyond the box but the consoles are still there. Sega became a dev and publisher only and I doubt MS will stop being a manufacturer.
I don't see that much wrong with that. SEGA still makes great games, some even better than their earlier stuff. Why should we want yet another e-waste box to exclusively play SEGA (or xbox) games?
Exclusives are cringe and not consumer friendly. I'm actually glad they are going away. On top of it not being consumer friendly it is very wasteful if you need to buy a separate console or PC for different games while one console or PC should be capable of running everything.
This is a well put together video, but I don’t agree with any of it. I don’t know how you can say console exclusivity is dying when Nintendo has been making a killing this entire generation while basing their entire business model around exclusives. The mobile games are just a side gig, you still have to buy an actual switch if you want to play Breath of the Wild. Sony putting games on Xbox is not going to happen, because it wouldn’t benefit them at all. Xbox has by far the smallest install base, who has also been conditioned to not buy games because of Gamepass. Said conditioning is why Xbox has been porting their first party games to other platform, their games don’t sell on their own systems, not because exclusivity as a concept is dead. Sony has been porting their games to PC mostly to compensate for the insane budgets they have.
I wouldn't say the eco system isn't growing, it has been for a long time, with more and more women getting off the "Games are for children, nonsense" which used to be prevalent and gaming is now even becoming generational. The children of a friend of mine love Mario and while not quite dexterous enough to play the games yet do try. In a few short years they will be among the next generation of Gamers. The biggest issue in gaming right now is making games which are not for the gamers who exist or could exist, casual gamers tend to stick to their niche, it is simply their pass time and gamers heavy into storylines and the frequent uses of Philosophy and ethical dilemmas in games will see the modern takes on identity as nonsense distracting from real issues such as wealth inequality and political mismanagement. Japan and indie developers are doing fine, good handling of all the major issues but the big companies over in the US have the brain rot which has also been affecting western universities and politics. Then there is also saturation. The scene is also very much saturated as well as overpriced and unless you are making a passion project with interesting new mechanics or a brilliant storyline, you will at best be bought on sale a few years from now 95% off.
I've been a gamer since the late '70s, when I first played Asteroids in the local supermarket, and I've seen gaming evolve dramatically over the years. Personally, I think the future of gaming is heading toward a streaming model-essentially a "Netflix for games." Consoles will likely shrink down to compact devices that plug directly into your TV's HDMI port, or you’ll just use apps on your phone or laptop. Streaming from the cloud will probably become the main way to access the latest releases. That said, I don’t see PCs disappearing anytime soon. Indie developers will still need a platform to create their games, and game development itself requires robust tools. Sure, we might eventually see AI apps capable of generating games based on a simple prompt, but for truly engaging and memorable experiences, I believe human creativity will always be essential.
In the 200s during the PS360 era the second era of "the death of PC gaming" was a thing and it turned out to again not be a thing. Too many money makers assume if it isn't always growing at a staggering rate it is over when no, it was never over. People will always want a PC or console as you say. It will always be based on what they understand, can afford or their friends have when you take mind share into account.
PlayStation and Nintendo games aren't going to other consoles. Xbox is the only dying platform. Phil Spencer killed the Xbox platform with game pass and acquiring too many publishers/studios without having the install base in place to justify it.
PlayStation has made it clear they will continue to make consoles and Nintendo will most likely follow suit. Xbox will be the only one going 3rd party.
Please investigate the net profit margin Sony makes on selling PS5 hardware vs. software. Then realise why Microsoft is doing what they're doing and why pretty much every other console manufacturer that makes first party software will be migrating to that strategy in the future. Sony is never going to say they're going full 3rd party now. Look how the fans reacted to putting games on PC.
Exclusives will only go away if there's no business benefit gained from their existence. The fact that xbox as a console is dying actually gets us closer to that potential future. Maybe two consoles, one high and one lower end, plus pc could be considered markets separate enough that exclusives become irrelevant. But you can be sure that as soon as competition returned, exclusives would be back and in full force.
I feel great about it. Screw exclusives. Gaming for all. Why should I have to have an Xbox to play Halo, a Switch to play Mario, or a PlayStation to play Gran Turismo? Platforms aren't even that different, anymore. Xbox X and PS5 are essentially the same mid-range spec PC in a custom case. Very little between them, spec-wise. Nintendo just do low-power ARM machines, at this point. No reason their games can't be on everything. There's nothing a Switch can do that a base PS4 can't also do.
@Adamtendo_player_1 I disagree. I would have no use for my Switch if Nintendo released Zelda and Mario on other platforms. Besides portability, there's nothing a Switch can do that a base PS4 can't also do. There are many people like me out there who own a Switch simply for the Nintendo games, not because Switch is our preferred platform, just because we like Nintendo games. Exclusivity is anti-gamer. There's no need for it on the side of the gamer/user/consumer. We don't need it, they do, if that makes sense? I should be able to buy Twilight Princess for my platform of choice, as I should be able to do with any game, so long as it can run on that platform. You should be able to buy downscaled ports of Gran Turismo, Halo, etc on your Switch. Why not? Because some rights holder needs it exclusive to their platform in order to give their platform a leg up. That's why not.
You could equally titled the video “The death of the console is inevitable” after how lacklustre and poor the games on the latest generation have been, specifically PlayStation 5.
I think Sony and xbox will inevitably realise their mistake when no one has a reason to buy their console and they're both competing for 70% revenue on steam. It's short term thinking, they're going to struggle to get future developers and consumers to support their future platform. Say goodbye to a 30% cut off 3rd party revenue. I feel ripped off with a Playstation so I'm thinking of switching to steamdeck 2 when it releases and play all games with free online If Sony want to be a pc, be a pc. Give us free online, create a software similar to Proton on Linux for being able to run pc games, no more ps plus. Don't do the dip the toes in the water approach while ripping off console users
Jumped the gun a bit? lol Microsoft was losing and seemed to just lose interest so them doing this isnt really as big as its being portrayed and they have dabbled in it before and with sony? Its still pretty business as usual with pc ports its an area without competition they can make money from and advertise to win-win and finally Nintendo? I mean do i even need to say anything? So yeah i find this whole thing dumb as I'd say the opposite exclusives are more important now then ever hence why sony and Nintendo are selling and Microsoft isnt and hell these days even PC has quite its own library of exclusives
Very wasteful. Why would you buy multiple e-waste boxes when everything could actually be played on one? I would like to have everything on PC at the very least.
That's a dumb way to look at it. It makes much more sense to buy one system to play whatever game you want to play on it instead of having multiple systems. Let people buy whatever system they want and let them play whatever game they want to play on it.
This is precisely why console manufacturers are buying up so many developers. They're diversifying their proposition by moving more into software. They can make more profit from games as opposed to consoles. Just because they own the IP to these games doesn't mean they HAVE to make it an exclusive to their console. Years ago a good exclusive will sell consoles, but nowadays people will just pass on it. Now console manufacturers have the opportunity to sell their games on rival consoles and unlock a potential 100% of the gaming market.
How does your wallet feel having savded hundreds by not having to buy an extra console ? Let that be your guide to your feelings. Like I regret buying a switch, all I played on it were mario games. And for what I payed I paid too mutch. If you spend hundreds of dollars for a console you barely use who loses? You.
I regret buying a PS5. Now all I play on it is GT7 after what seemed like would be a continuation of the PS4 non stop banger releases. After Demon Souls, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart for me the console fell off (I hate current GoW and Horizon games so I don't count them). I have an Xbox with GamePass that the whole family uses because although they're losing badly in console sales, their sheer number of games and the way I can try them without even downloading them is a real plus for us. My daughter plays my Switch OLED so it was a good investment in our household. PC is definitely the future for us.
The logic behind this video is flawed. If gen z only plays cellphone games then there is no way to capture them. Changing you business model will not improve sales. The business model of PCs is not the same as consoles. If PS5 and Xbox fell off the face of the earth Nintendo will still have exclusives. Xbox is only doing it out of desperation. It will sink Xbox. Exclusives are console gaming.
So glad you’re around, Jim. You’ve always been one of the best. Missed you post Videogamer!
I appreciate Jim's optimism. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy...right before the end of the world.
Your shelf behind you is AWESOME DS9 ftw
I don’t see PlayStation releasing on Xboxes any time soon
It already happened with MLB the Show
@@megacherv Sony doesn't own Major League Baseball. The league forced them to make it multiplatform. You're not going to be playing God of War, Spider-Man or Ghost of Tsushima on your Xbox. But we will be playing Indy, Doom, Halo and Gears on our PS5's soon enough.
It was just a few years ago when people were saying PlayStation wouldn’t put games on PC, now all of their games come to PC within a reasonable certainty on the release window.
Just a month or two ago, people were losing their mind over Xbox “This is an Xbox” campaign. Then Sony announced cloud streaming for the portal. You can buy games from the PlayStation score and stream them to the portal without a PS5. I can say with certainty that Sony will have a web app, smart tv app, and mobile app.
Sony just launched Lego Horizon on the Switch.
I say that to say, we have no clue what these companies will and won’t do. If MS manages to merge Windows / Xbox OS into a compelling experience similar to SteamOS but with better compatibility, then those Sony games will be on Xbox whether Sony agrees or not.
It was just a few years ago when people were saying PlayStation wouldn’t put games on PC, now all of their games come to PC within a reasonable certainty on the release window.
Just a month or two ago, people were losing their mind over Xbox “This is an Xbox” campaign. Then Sony announced cloud streaming for the portal. You can buy games from the PlayStation score and stream them to the portal without a PS5. I can say with certainty that Sony will have a web app, smart tv app, and mobile app.
Sony just launched Lego Horizon on the Switch.
I say that to say, we have no clue what these companies will and won’t do. If MS manages to merge Windows / Xbox OS into a compelling experience similar to SteamOS but with better compatibility, then those Sony games will be on Xbox whether Sony agrees or not.
Ultimately it’s a catch-22 - the biggest flaw in “business growth” mentality is that everything eventually has a point of diminishing returns. The way the game industry has gone, games are getting more expensive to make, with longer dev cycles. It will eventually reach the point where even if an “exclusive” game gets 100% engagement with console owners, it still won’t be profitable.
The reality is that at its best, Nintendo has only seen a little over 50% attach rate (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe), where Sony/Xbox have seen maybe 25-30% at best. It is a game of numbers that these companies know they can’t win with the current models and is why you’ve seen Sony start to sell their games on PC. It is MUCH cheaper to port a game to another platform, because much of the legwork has already been done - as such, it can become more profitable sooner.
Nintendo is the clear exception here - Switch is a simpler console, therefore it is cheaper to make and develop for - they make the least revenue of the three, however, their profit margins are the highest. SIE has the most revenue, but the highest operating costs, therefore, they are, on paper, the least profitable, even if the actual profit is greater than the other two.
Business is a game of numbers - but unfortunately, they pay more attention to percentages than actual hard figures. You WILL see SIE eventually bring their titles to PC faster, and maybe even consider multiplat (think Nintendo) sonnet than anyone thinks. As a matter of fact, I would say that they’ll specifically avoid Xbox on principle, but run to Nintendo eventually. Anyone remember that the Horizon Lego Adventure, an SIE published game, went to Switch?
"your hardware of choice won't dictate which games you can and can't play - only the storefront you get them from" is something i've considered a good thing for a while - and i still do, i think? but there's something so insidiously and scummily corporate about the inverse idea that games would now be (exclusively) (heh, exclusively) restricted by license and company instead of hardware. because you know they'll start to go the netflix/hulu/hbo/amazon route and start charging subscriptions, thus forcing most people to choose one company and stick to it and restarting the console war as a storefront war. maybe i'm doomposting a bit but while i am looking forward to the new wave of games that pass the indie line but don't quite hit the triple-A space, i worry about all the smaller companies that may be snapped up by larger conglomerates and then promptly dissolved purely so a spreadsheet somewhere can have a slightly bigger number on it. among other issues.
I'm enjoying Jim's contributions to the team, very insightful and a nice counterbalance to the other two nutters
Smaller companies really need to resist buyouts, now more than ever. I would hope that enough of them realise what it means for their future & instead limit their ambition until they can grow slowly.
What are they going to do when there aren’t enough people in the world to buy their games?
Then we Kerbal. Humans are pretty adapable. We just are unhappy about the process.
Start selling food.
WTF are you talking about LOL.
There's 8 billion people on earth. It will take a really really long time for not enough people in the world to not buy their systems. Even if birth rates fell by 50% it would take at least a century or longer for that to happen.
Soylent Green, Logan’s Run… Sci-Fi came up with the solutions decades ago.
Absolutely love Jim's Empok Nor model.
I'm not supposed to talk about Star Trek.
Ah, a connoisseur
Corporate greed (or perhaps the inevitable reaching in all industry of final stage capitalism in general) has led to the need for the end of console exclusivity. Nobody is asking companies to spend more time and money on one game than Peter Jackson spent on the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. And the elephant in the room? Nobody when they have this conversation is talking about seeing Mario on Playstation anytime soon....
there is also the fact that when building a game, PC is the default, if it works on what you are building it on is literally the first step for any dev. Consoles are all and have always been the extra step and with how programing environments handle compilation now, it is usually fairly easy to recompile for each of the consoles. That is the only reason so many games become multi platform now.
Being able to choose where I play my games is fantastic! I'm tired of purchasing multiple consoles just to play maybe 4 exclusives a year. The first console to give us access to our PC games will end this stupid platform war.
4 per year? I bought a PS4 literally just to play Bloodborne and nothing else. If consoles went away tomorrow and everything were on PC I would be overjoyed.
@@tooki3698Actual physical PCs are still far too noisy for the living room though, and you have to chuck a ton of money at them to get decent graphics as the hardware and operating system weren’t designed primarily for gaming. And then there’s the risk of viruses, malware, etc. and keeping drivers up to date. And because there isn’t standardisation across all the internals, it’s still possible for a game to be unplayable on your particular snowflake PC, with nobody able to help you.
Consoles are still the ultimate “plug and play” devices for sociable gaming.
Hopefully the rumors of a Windows / Xbox OS Hybrid are true. Imagine something like SteamOS but with the compatibility of Windows and a console like interface from Xbox. It wouldn’t matter what Sony agrees to, their games would be on Xbox.
@@happyspaceinvader508 When's the last time you actually used a computer? None of that is true.
I just bought a PS4 pro after owning a first gen PS4, STRICTLY to have better performance when playing Bloodborne. There's literally no other reason I need/want a PS4.. lol.
It does sting to see Xbox going 3rd party, I loved the original and 360. And Sony needs competition on multiple fronts to be pro consumer. But Nintendo is still strong as ever. They are still competition. Also, there have been rumors of a steam console. Ironically Steam could be the new third piece in gathering big 3, as a steam console could bring a steam library and Xbox launcher with it. They're the only ones who could step in and immediately own a large share of consumers.
I think that'll probably be exactly what happens, though anyone who already has a PC (and thus Steam library) won't need one because they can just stream it locally to any cheapo Android stick or smart TV.
Xboxs direction of travel will probably see multiple store fronts available on their next box, meaning Steam will be there. With a multiple storefront future as you have with pc today what will this mean for pricing of games, steam is generally significantly cheaper bia new releases...
Haha. Happy New Year mate! Btw - Iwata San quote:
Even when I'm vaguely aware of how tough it's going to be, my baseline assumption is, "We'll work it out." A leader has no other choice. The assumption that we'll work it out makes the world go around. - p42 - Ask Iwata - Hobonichi
This is a really good discussion point and very well made. Thank you for making this!
Ps5 pro is probably my last console I’m moving over to PC soon
I like the hesitant optimism, but have you thought, recently, about the TNG episode 'The Neutral Zone' and how our economy today may not be the economy of the future.
First, this is the 2nd video I've seen with this host. He's a real get for EG, nice job 👌
Second, investors are assholes. The chase for endless growth and profits is so overplayed.
Lastly, devs that make & support live service games are hurting the cause. Trying to addict/lock in gamers to a handful of titles when most ppl are already time poor is a stupid idea and is self-defeating for the industry.
It is not really universal that people disrespect those with experience. For example over in Japan, one of Atlus' top developers was like "I am feeling stifled creatively only making urban or apocalyptic fantasy." and Atlus was like "okay no prob, here your own development team! go crazy!" and made the game of the last year.
Well guess what the more money you spend on individual game projects the more money you got to make back. You simply cannot do that with exclusivity. Look at the amount of PS4s and PS5s sold. But people aren't buying the exclusives enough to justify these insane budgets. So you have to expand to multiple platforms and give new users access to your content.
It’ll definitely mean more expensive games. It’s like the death of accessible movies and media. Where you used to be able to buy films, tv shows etc…now you can only stream some stuff. It’s like companies don’t understand history. Yeah, they’ve trained young humans to no buy stuff. Let alone not having decent incomes. As an old man, my fear is media is feeding off itself. So as time moves on it regurgitates itself to lesser effect.
Just wait until the regurgitative AI stuff sweeps the market & then immediately begins eating itself because there's nothing new for it to draw on. My hope is that there's a space for one company with enough clout to keep making "old fashioned" games, films, etc. that will stand out & remind people of what they're missing, so the whole thing doesn't simply implode on itself. That requires a will that may not exist if companies keep employing corporate career-CEOs who don't actually give a toss about the companies they control though.
You can buy movies in multiple physical formats and digitally. The prices are very reasonable as long as you wait a few months to purchase new movies.
This seems like a question for Pachter
Pachter hasn't been right in in over a decade.
Lack of digital ownership is the giant elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Digital Distribution has killed value perception, the second hand market and the culture surrounding game trading and collecting. People simply don’t see their digital libraries as a valuable investment. Niche games and New IPs suffer most from this, as they are perceived as risks not worth taking. Indie games are merely a symptom of this larger disease. It simply doesn‘t pay off for publishers to make smaller, innovative games. And without innovation the industry is going to head into a crash, that simple.
We need to be able to swap, trade and resell our digital licenses, the way we are able to with physical media. We need to own our games.
It's a sad time to live in when the hardware of your choice no longer has any relevance to the software, other than performance. What is the point of custom architectures, when they are just going to dish out the same end product as the rest?
Remember when your computer had the best version of a particular game? It had the better soundtrack and had more playability, okay, maybe not the best graphics, Commodore tended to win that category, but the game in general is better on your micro.
It led to the playground arguments of who had the better computer. Was it the Spectrum, or the C64? Amstrads never really got a look in, there just wasn't enough people fighting their corner.
Now Intel-based games look and sound identically to AMD-based games, or ARM, or Snapdragon, Mediatek, NVidia...
Why give us the choice anymore? They all do the same thing.
One potentially good outcome of all this would be if games became less bloated. Having a game that takes ages to complete, where half of it is filler 'content', should become a thing of the past. Young people don't have the attention span for all that busywork and old people don't have the time.
Is it a similar thing in the movie industry?
I've heard the reason cgi looks worse now, compared to a number of years ago, is because they hired younger, cheaper, less experienced "interns" instead of paying for the best candidate for the job.
Obviously the best candidate could then teach the "intern". Improving them and benefiting everyone.
...but that costs money, and it looks much better on paper to convince investors "we can get top quality for less. Less means more profit".
Yep, but that's also due to more of it being entirely CG instead of that being used to augment physical effects (which looks best of all), & the fact that the youth now don't give a crap & don't pay attention, nor know anything about what's come before, so they wouldn't notice anyway. It's already very rare to see anyone even mention the total lack of stylistic shadows in most films these days, but they're so seldom used & the end result is much worse for it. Nobody notices, nobody cares, nobody realises what's been taken from them. Why give someone with experience & knowledge a raise to keep them on when so few people would even realise what their input was?
I think Handheld and VR are actually really going to come into their own in the next generation tbh. VR when done right is incredibly immersive and Handheld gaming is just a better version of mobile gaming.
One thing I noticed as a seasoned gamer as well is the increase of indie game companies and games coming out. I mean has always been there, but it's increased significantly in size, which go back to what gamers wanted for several different play styles and stories. The other part is probably right about console era phasing out as exclusives go more multiple platform... at the same time handheld devices becoming the go to and seeing that Sony themselves is taking back the interest into handhelds we may be witnessing this more commonly used than anything else outside of VR. it'll be interesting especially in the next 10 to 20 years as it may come back in a good way and maybe wont need those 8k TVs anymore lol.
Great take and good to see you, Jim.
I love it! Death Stranding on Xbox was so unexpected and I loved it, hopefully PS owners can play whatever was Xbox-exclusive
Xbox exists as an extension of Microsoft and used to just be the Microsoft gaming division. They have no skin in the game if their console goes under, never did.
Sony Playstation does have the parent company to support them but if they don't have exclusives Playstation is done. This isn't the disc era any longer. the easy Piracy of the mostly unprotected discs and ease of chipping the console and exclusives is what made Playstation popular and Playstation has always fought piracy. Look at the PSVita, it died in it's infancy because they completely blocked the modding scene which made the PSP really popular. When exclusives no longer exist that will be Playstation's curtain call.
Nintendo like Xbox produces games alongside their console. Their exclusives will either always be or they will just pivot into making even more games. It wouldn't be such a big deal for them other then maybe the price of a lot of their titles having to be lower and having to modernize when it comes to streaming and fan creations.
The smart phone "games" are just extensions to their exclusive titles and barely worth a mention, as mobile gaming tends to be.
I see Jim, I like the video. Simple.
What a good, thoughtful video.
Good video, some very fine points made.
I'd be interested to know the average cost of a mobile phone that people game on, because aren't they console level cost these days? (Spread over contract)
People who buy on a contract don't work out that stuff, same way people who pay a subscription to play games don't work out that stuff. This is how the console makers managed to get people to pay twice to go online in the first place (a prospect that is entirely unacceptable to me).
Nice video, but please could I make a request. As someone who likes to express himself with his hands, it would be far less distracting for the viewer if your hands didn't come between your face and the camera. Quite a few UA-camrs do this, probably because no one ever mentioned it, but once you see it, you can't unsee it. Keep up the good work though. 👍
Creative people are always treated like crap by people in power, sadly. Interesting take, though from what I can tell just looking it up, it would appear that Elder Scrolls has become an X-box exclusive, which is interesting if disappointing. I do kind of miss the 16-bit era though, things were simpler back then...
I see multiple Enterprises, DS9, and... is that a Stargate with a teal PS5 controller?
That's an 8bitdo ultimate C controller, for PC :)
I think Xbox's problem is they made their consoles unnecessary. Granted consoles usually are sold at a loss anyway, so maybe Microsoft is smart to shift Xbox away from hardware. I would like to see some Xbox controllers with Hall Effect sticks as a hardware product from Microsoft.
They definitely didn't intend on this happening, but MS is primarily a software company anyway so I doubt the larger corporation minds that much. The bigger issue is Game Pass making people not buy games either.
@@nightcatarts I haven't bought Starfield or Indiana Jones, yet, even though I really enjoy playing both games, because of that very reason - Game Pass. I suspect Ubisoft is experiencing a similar effect due to Ubisoft Plus, regarding games such as Star Wars: Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Ubisoft Plus may be skewing the sales statistics for games available through their subscription service.
6:15 we need more 3d fighters with 3d movement
The ending sent me "haha itll be alright! Yea. Haha. Itll be alright... Yes. Haha."
Console exclusives, or any exclusivity, are mainly for the benefit of the company so they will do whatever makes sense business-wise. On the consumer-side, it just mainly satisfies our "you can't have what's mine" mentality. Other than that, it's not good for us.
well, the gen a and gen z's are buying $5k laptops and $3k phones (aud) so money is not the issue. The gaming industry I think, has reached the same point Hollywood has, it peaked. It told its stories. Games have basically been made in every variable possible based on our way of playing games. This is why remakes and remasters have been a big trend. What was the difference really from ps3, 4 and 5? I big of performance bump, but nothing that has revolutionalised gaming. It is more of the same with slightly better looking visuals and more expensive software to buy and create. The industry has devolved into making money over games. It will continue to come down more and more, until there is a total collapse, then will come back when something revolutionary changes how you play
to be honest exclusive games have been one of the most customer unfriendly things out there. if you want to play certain games with exclusivity you have to spend a lot of money for another console which a lot of people can't do. i couldn't play gears of war because i couldn't afford every console under the sun just to play a few games.
So little successful games come out when they do. The only real way to maximize profits is to put the game on every platform if possible.
I dont really think getting rid of exclusivity as a bad thing. I own a xbox and my friend has a ps5 and a P.C. it's should be possible to play cross platform games together if we want to.
As a series x owner I'm not upset if games also come to ps5. My series x has better graphical power then a ps5 but is cheaper then a ps5 pro.
In the end you should be able to get what ever console you want to and that platform should try to get every game possible.
It does make sense for each company to have its own exclusive. But those should be as minimal as possible for only a timed exclusive.
Edit: people will always choose with there wallet.
Younger audiences will eventually want better hardware then a phone.
I think the death of consoles in general are inevitable. With the only downside being players losing potentially huge libraries of games in the process. But consoles are already more PC like than ever. Players are also demanding more robust settings options, higher specs, and upgrades for older games now that back compat has become standard again. The age range for gamers is older on average now as well and is not the ‘for kids’ hobby it mostly once was. Consoles really only came about because back in the day, PC’s in the living room weren’t an easy task to tackle. However. with innovations like Steam OS, bringing a more console like experience to things like the Steam Deck, and PC gaming in general being far far easier for the end user experience, the time is right to attempt a console/PC hybrid again. Imagine devs only needing to work on a single platform version (PC), that players could ‘remaster’ themselves by boosting settings when they get new hardware, and having all their games playable on console, PC, and handhelds without the need to purchase separate versions, and it is a really appealing prospect. It also resolves back compat (aside from console titles that just never got PC ports) as players also gain access to already essentially remastered games at ultra settings, 4K, high fps, going back decades. Sony and XBox would basically enter the publishing wars, but also still could make ‘consoles’. You could have a Sony PC console that used dual sense, it’s own UI, and other features to stand out.
The only problem being that taking a loss on hardware becomes less enticing when you don’t have a storefront to recoup costs by getting players into your restrictive ecosystem. So the 500 dollar console will be a thing of the past, and honestly companies like Valve or Epic would take up the mantle as they have storefronts to leverage (similar to the Steam Deck being at a ‘painful’ (according to Newell) low price point. And we have publishers acknowledging that PC will take priority in the future. Rockstar has even said it will be moving in this direction despite formerly being console centric with PC versions coming after console in the past, and Capcom stating that it sold more copies of it’s games on PC than all 3 consoles combined. The PC playerbase continues to outpace console growth with new users and this will only continue. It will be interesting to see where it goes, but I don’t think it will be for another gen or two if it happens. But even just Valve or XBox making a console that can access Steam and other PC storefronts, would severely impact Sony’s PC strategy, and if XBox leaves the console space entirely, this could also elongate the move to PC console experiences as Sony would want to retain it’s dominance as long as possible. I think a loooot of people are looking at PC lately though and there is a real opportunity here.
Multiplatform or not, I’m sticking with Switch and Steam. I don’t trust the other two whatsoever, but might pick up a game or two if something interesting ported. Gamepass is well positioned to become a/the Netflix of games in the future. But personally, I have no interest in the Netflixification of the gaming industry. I like owning games, and financially supporting the developers who keep us entertained.
Nintendo isnt giving up on exclusivity tho. They rather go bankrupt
I think you’re missing a fundamental difference between Microsoft and every other console manufacturer past and present: Microsoft entered the console market with a device that was not a console; it was simply shrunk down PC hardware with a software restriction that limited it to only playing games. A console is a device whose entire hardware design is aimed at playing games and nothing else. A PC is not designed for playing games, and neither is Windows. Everything that makes them able to play games is a workaround, and one that typically requires more powerful (and expensive) hardware just to get decent result.
So Microsoft may well abandon the console market… but they were never really in it. Sony, since the PS4, have released kind-of-PC-like hardware, but with an operating system absolutely focussed on games. Nintendo… still consoles, I don’t see them ever changing.
So yeah, we’ll see Microsoft owned titles on Xbox… and PlayStation games on PC. I don’t think we’ll ever see Sony’s titles on another proper console, and likewise with Nintendo.
I’ve always love PlayStation but I moved on to pc years ago and never looked back
Same. PC is a much more open and interesting platform.
i love playing Stellar Blade on my xbox series pro. looking forward to getting that indiana wutever game later on.
Mmmm yummy looking forward to more content like this from eurogamer in the new year
Console exclusivity is causing AAA games to collapse because there is a definite number of console players. They need to expand to PC or the biggest market: mobile devices via cloud gaming as an alternative.
AAA mobile games sounds horrid when you consider the type of mobile games out there now. But I imagine a time where a fully fledged Civ or Elder Scrolls could live on a mobile phone.
Nintendo isn’t affected by this as they don’t have high development costs like Sony or Microsoft.
@eurogamer look up debt saturation, that should clear up a few question marks on the state of the economy
I can't wait for the end of exclusivity.
And Sony games should not require PSN when releasing on PC
Sony has put a PS studio game on xbox. I think it was a sports one, but yeah, it's defo a future thing.
Only because MLB forced them to do so...
@@TheQuantumMechanicFCC forced MS to put COD on PS. They may eventually do the same with Sony.
late gen Zer here, I went from Playstation to PC simply because it’s cheaper, and there’s smaller more interesting games that don’t require a huge commitment, I also really enjoy having my whole library from 64 onwards, in one place. I do like that exclusives are mostly dead but i do wish that it didn’t come at the cost of there being very few small weird games from Sony. God i miss patapon.
Xbox basically went the way of Sega
Not really. They want to expand beyond the box but the consoles are still there. Sega became a dev and publisher only and I doubt MS will stop being a manufacturer.
I don't see that much wrong with that. SEGA still makes great games, some even better than their earlier stuff. Why should we want yet another e-waste box to exclusively play SEGA (or xbox) games?
I get what you mean.
Good video. Nicely done.
Exclusives are cringe and not consumer friendly. I'm actually glad they are going away. On top of it not being consumer friendly it is very wasteful if you need to buy a separate console or PC for different games while one console or PC should be capable of running everything.
This is a well put together video, but I don’t agree with any of it. I don’t know how you can say console exclusivity is dying when Nintendo has been making a killing this entire generation while basing their entire business model around exclusives. The mobile games are just a side gig, you still have to buy an actual switch if you want to play Breath of the Wild.
Sony putting games on Xbox is not going to happen, because it wouldn’t benefit them at all. Xbox has by far the smallest install base, who has also been conditioned to not buy games because of Gamepass. Said conditioning is why Xbox has been porting their first party games to other platform, their games don’t sell on their own systems, not because exclusivity as a concept is dead. Sony has been porting their games to PC mostly to compensate for the insane budgets they have.
I wouldn't say the eco system isn't growing, it has been for a long time, with more and more women getting off the "Games are for children, nonsense" which used to be prevalent and gaming is now even becoming generational. The children of a friend of mine love Mario and while not quite dexterous enough to play the games yet do try. In a few short years they will be among the next generation of Gamers.
The biggest issue in gaming right now is making games which are not for the gamers who exist or could exist, casual gamers tend to stick to their niche, it is simply their pass time and gamers heavy into storylines and the frequent uses of Philosophy and ethical dilemmas in games will see the modern takes on identity as nonsense distracting from real issues such as wealth inequality and political mismanagement. Japan and indie developers are doing fine, good handling of all the major issues but the big companies over in the US have the brain rot which has also been affecting western universities and politics.
Then there is also saturation. The scene is also very much saturated as well as overpriced and unless you are making a passion project with interesting new mechanics or a brilliant storyline, you will at best be bought on sale a few years from now 95% off.
Good. Everything should be on PC.
Why do they have Jim Trinka listed as being Welsh? he sounds Scottish.
Born in Wales, raised in Scotland, live in England, drive a Japanese car
I've been a gamer since the late '70s, when I first played Asteroids in the local supermarket, and I've seen gaming evolve dramatically over the years. Personally, I think the future of gaming is heading toward a streaming model-essentially a "Netflix for games." Consoles will likely shrink down to compact devices that plug directly into your TV's HDMI port, or you’ll just use apps on your phone or laptop. Streaming from the cloud will probably become the main way to access the latest releases.
That said, I don’t see PCs disappearing anytime soon. Indie developers will still need a platform to create their games, and game development itself requires robust tools. Sure, we might eventually see AI apps capable of generating games based on a simple prompt, but for truly engaging and memorable experiences, I believe human creativity will always be essential.
Gamers are always gonna want consoles or computers to play games on. Don't we remember the "Don't you guys have phones?" debacle?
In the 200s during the PS360 era the second era of "the death of PC gaming" was a thing and it turned out to again not be a thing. Too many money makers assume if it isn't always growing at a staggering rate it is over when no, it was never over. People will always want a PC or console as you say. It will always be based on what they understand, can afford or their friends have when you take mind share into account.
PlayStation and Nintendo games aren't going to other consoles. Xbox is the only dying platform. Phil Spencer killed the Xbox platform with game pass and acquiring too many publishers/studios without having the install base in place to justify it.
MS could buy Sony with a fraction of its available capital.
@@FarnzworthIII No they can't because Sony isn't for sale. Instead Xbox will continue to get their ass kicked by PS5 and you will cry about it.
@ Sony is publicly traded
@@rebel5709 Sony market cap 76 billion. MS 2 trillion.
@@FarnzworthIII Why do you care? You're not going to see a cent of it lol.
Too distracted by that model DS9
PlayStation has made it clear they will continue to make consoles and Nintendo will most likely follow suit. Xbox will be the only one going 3rd party.
Please investigate the net profit margin Sony makes on selling PS5 hardware vs. software. Then realise why Microsoft is doing what they're doing and why pretty much every other console manufacturer that makes first party software will be migrating to that strategy in the future. Sony is never going to say they're going full 3rd party now. Look how the fans reacted to putting games on PC.
Exclusives will only go away if there's no business benefit gained from their existence. The fact that xbox as a console is dying actually gets us closer to that potential future. Maybe two consoles, one high and one lower end, plus pc could be considered markets separate enough that exclusives become irrelevant. But you can be sure that as soon as competition returned, exclusives would be back and in full force.
I would say Gen Z still cares about consoles, I don't know about Gen Alpha, but most Gen Z gamers I know play on at least one console.
Get rid of exclusives!!!
So, get rid of consoles? You a PC owner. because exclusives eventually go to PC.
I feel great about it. Screw exclusives. Gaming for all. Why should I have to have an Xbox to play Halo, a Switch to play Mario, or a PlayStation to play Gran Turismo?
Platforms aren't even that different, anymore. Xbox X and PS5 are essentially the same mid-range spec PC in a custom case. Very little between them, spec-wise.
Nintendo just do low-power ARM machines, at this point. No reason their games can't be on everything. There's nothing a Switch can do that a base PS4 can't also do.
You’re in a minority with that opinion, exclusives are a reason to buy a console, this is particularly true with Nintendo.
@Adamtendo_player_1 I disagree. I would have no use for my Switch if Nintendo released Zelda and Mario on other platforms. Besides portability, there's nothing a Switch can do that a base PS4 can't also do.
There are many people like me out there who own a Switch simply for the Nintendo games, not because Switch is our preferred platform, just because we like Nintendo games.
Exclusivity is anti-gamer. There's no need for it on the side of the gamer/user/consumer. We don't need it, they do, if that makes sense? I should be able to buy Twilight Princess for my platform of choice, as I should be able to do with any game, so long as it can run on that platform.
You should be able to buy downscaled ports of Gran Turismo, Halo, etc on your Switch. Why not? Because some rights holder needs it exclusive to their platform in order to give their platform a leg up. That's why not.
.........it'll be alright....? It'll be............. alright? Alright. Be. It'll. Question mark. Uhm.....?....... uhm.
Alright?
Did like Dredge. So. Uhm.....
Wibble.
yes of course you would like it 😂😂😂
You could equally titled the video “The death of the console is inevitable” after how lacklustre and poor the games on the latest generation have been, specifically PlayStation 5.
The death of the Sony/Microsoft console, anyway.
I think Sony and xbox will inevitably realise their mistake when no one has a reason to buy their console and they're both competing for 70% revenue on steam.
It's short term thinking, they're going to struggle to get future developers and consumers to support their future platform. Say goodbye to a 30% cut off 3rd party revenue.
I feel ripped off with a Playstation so I'm thinking of switching to steamdeck 2 when it releases and play all games with free online
If Sony want to be a pc, be a pc. Give us free online, create a software similar to Proton on Linux for being able to run pc games, no more ps plus.
Don't do the dip the toes in the water approach while ripping off console users
Basically crying and begging for Death Stranding 2 coming really fast to PC after PS release... 😭
Jumped the gun a bit? lol Microsoft was losing and seemed to just lose interest so them doing this isnt really as big as its being portrayed and they have dabbled in it before and with sony? Its still pretty business as usual with pc ports its an area without competition they can make money from and advertise to win-win and finally Nintendo? I mean do i even need to say anything? So yeah i find this whole thing dumb as I'd say the opposite exclusives are more important now then ever hence why sony and Nintendo are selling and Microsoft isnt and hell these days even PC has quite its own library of exclusives
I disagree. Exclusives are a good thing and should remain as such. Exclusives are the reasons I buy systems.
So you prefer to buy multiple systems to play everything instead of only having to buy one system and have everything?
Very wasteful. Why would you buy multiple e-waste boxes when everything could actually be played on one? I would like to have everything on PC at the very least.
at what point is it too much? would you buy 10 systems to play 10 games?
That's a dumb way to look at it. It makes much more sense to buy one system to play whatever game you want to play on it instead of having multiple systems.
Let people buy whatever system they want and let them play whatever game they want to play on it.
I agree with you, the people saying exclusives aren’t important are PC gamers who are known for being entitled.
I love it, more people playing a game means more money and a better future for it
This is precisely why console manufacturers are buying up so many developers. They're diversifying their proposition by moving more into software. They can make more profit from games as opposed to consoles.
Just because they own the IP to these games doesn't mean they HAVE to make it an exclusive to their console.
Years ago a good exclusive will sell consoles, but nowadays people will just pass on it. Now console manufacturers have the opportunity to sell their games on rival consoles and unlock a potential 100% of the gaming market.
How does your wallet feel having savded hundreds by not having to buy an extra console ? Let that be your guide to your feelings. Like I regret buying a switch, all I played on it were mario games. And for what I payed I paid too mutch. If you spend hundreds of dollars for a console you barely use who loses? You.
I regret buying a PS5. Now all I play on it is GT7 after what seemed like would be a continuation of the PS4 non stop banger releases. After Demon Souls, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart for me the console fell off (I hate current GoW and Horizon games so I don't count them). I have an Xbox with GamePass that the whole family uses because although they're losing badly in console sales, their sheer number of games and the way I can try them without even downloading them is a real plus for us. My daughter plays my Switch OLED so it was a good investment in our household. PC is definitely the future for us.
The logic behind this video is flawed. If gen z only plays cellphone games then there is no way to capture them. Changing you business model will not improve sales. The business model of PCs is not the same as consoles. If PS5 and Xbox fell off the face of the earth Nintendo will still have exclusives. Xbox is only doing it out of desperation. It will sink Xbox. Exclusives are console gaming.