Tuesday 11 October 2011

No next generation for you, dudes

The story behind this post is that in the GameFaqs Batman: Arkham City PS3 board someone asked in a topic if people think the PlayStation 3 will continue to get new games for another 3-4 years or will the next generation of consoles get announced soon. To my horror clear majority of people replying to him foolishly believe that this generation will last only a year or two at best, some waiting for a new Sony or Microsoft console in 2012 already. One guy there even believes that the WiiU is the first console of the next generation, not really understanding that it's just Nintendo trying to catch up and get their cut from this gen.
So, in my wisdom I posted my reply. This is it.

Like it's been said by other people already, the technology leaps right now for the next console would be so abysmal it's not worth it to produce a new system. Sure, there's always some potential for an upgrade but right now the new technology a PS4 or X720 would need to be worth buying for the average gamer would cost too much to produce in mass and sell for a price the regular consumer could afford.

Furthermore, it's not the consoles themselves Microsoft or Sony get profit from, it's the game sales. In fact, Sony has lost a ton of money with PS3 as a console, because they have to sell it for less than it actually costs to manufacture, but this tactic pays off in the end when they get their share of money from the games. Without a console there would be no game revenue so the initial loss is perfectly acceptable.

The only reason Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will create new consoles is to have the advantage. The consumer is a dumb animal who obediently follows the leader for shallow rewards, and if one console is much more advanced than others then people are likely to be more interested in buying that one for many reasons. Maybe they think it'll last longer than the previous generations of consoles or just believe that the new technology will open new worlds for game design. Regardless, the company with the console that sells or has sold a lot is the one that is like to also sell more games. It's why Sony didn't hurry PS3 out and why PS2 games were being developed even after PS3 came out, because so many people already owned a PS2 that it was guaranteed that PS2 games would continue to make profit, for a short while even more than PS3 games when we count in what they lost with the actual console.

WiiU is just Nintendo's way to get their share of current gen game sales. It's not any more advanced as a console than PS3 or X360 is, but when it's out those old Nintendo fans who so far have only had Sony and Microsoft to offer them the many popular HD titles in recent years will get a chance to jump back on the Nintendo wagon and give them their money.

You have to understand that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft don't put out new consoles out of love for technology or because they like to amaze their customers, but because they want to make a profit. Sometimes it's just a good business tactic to put out a new console.
Right now, Sony and Microsoft are on top of the world because they are selling games like crazy. Putting out a new console now would be stupid of both of them because they wouldn't be able to get any significant advantage over the other and would risk losing money on the manufacturing costs. They will milk this generation until it looks dry, and THEN move on.

So yes, I do indeed think PS3 has another 3-4 good years left.

I posted this message here on this blog for two reasons. One, I have nothing else to fill the blog with again, sorry. Second, this post is a good way to show you that I do indeed write long rants on the Internet on a daily basis. I often write this much even on YouTube comment sections for crying out loud, and it's the exact reason why I'm always so amazed at being seemingly unable to post new stuff on my own blog more often. I suppose I always need a discussion starter, something to break the gates.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with all of your sentiments in your reply and I'm happy about the fact that there is still life left in the systems. Largely because a new console would fuck things up completely for current generation gamers, nothing pisses me off more than having 2-3 parts of a series on one console only to have a critical part of the series occur on a new console that is far over priced. It's gonna be a while before I am willing to part with wholesale money for a system. That's just how it is...

    -Neal

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