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Are the big 3 game companies dieing?
11 years ago
So i'm gonna be stepping on a lot of toes of fans but I just want to talk about this and see if others agree. If you are a huge fan boy of Xbox, PS, and Nintendo , walk away cause this won't be the article for you. It also feels as though I made this argument on another journal before so bare with me XD
For a long time now we have had the big 3 be our game platforms. PS, Xbox, and Nintendo had always been our choices for counsels to play on for the past 12 years (minus the dreamcast since it went the way of the do do). In the last gen we had major leaps in technology for games. The wii, the biggest seller of the three, showed that a gimmick done right and priced well can lead to major fun and sales. The xbox 360 made major leaps in online play. The ps4, despite having a serous rough start due to price and marketing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkNPcUMffU seriously?) came with probably the best tech of the 3.
So what did we get with this gen? A kinect that no one wanted, machines that are barely pushing 1080 ph, 60 frames, and the wii u gamepad. Not much in the whole grand scheme of things when we have computers that can do this with out a sweat, tablets that you can take any where, 4k tv's coming out soon and....things with out kinect...
With that being said, are the big 3 dieing in the game market?
Ok maybe i'm being a bit harsh with out reason so lets look what has been happening so far. We'll start with start with the best seller so far, the PS4.
It has sold over 10 million units since it has been released. While this is good, compared to its other competitor, the xbone, it is like choosing the same thing, just one cheaper then the other. Despite this success however, sony the company is still having major loses all over the map from tv's to mp3 players because of one problem, its not a “leader” any more. Most of what it sells isn't ground breaking but rather a copy cat of what ever is new and great. They don't strive to make it cheaper ether. This is why I am kindof mad at the ps4 is cause it had a chance to add 50 dollars worth of upgrades to its console, probably hitting that 4k limit instead of the barely 1080 p, and still sell way better then the Xbone. Again, Sony is no longer a leader, and we got a console that will only last 3 years rather then a decade like they preached to us.
Now to the next biggest seller, the wii u. As much as I am a fan of nintendo, they did screw up big time. I will say the game pad is a brilliant idea, I just wish they pushed it more by giving you the ability to take it any where and use the wii u like a cloud. Sort of like the vita just bigger. Enough about what I wanted though, lets talk about what we got. The wii u is not as powerful yes but it came out a year before the other 2 and in tech years, thats a big difference. So to barely hit the 1080 60 mark is more understandable. What isn't understandable was the amount of games released for it at launch, its name, marketing, and lack of 3rd party. That is what is killing Wii u. Many people didn't even know the wii u came out and even longer thought it was an add on to the wii cause of the name. The about of games, while getting much better now, was pathetic when it was first released, giving almost no reason to own it. And now, 3rd party support almost laughs at the idea of making games for it. Ubisoft just said recently that after watchdogs, they will not be making any more M rated games for Wii U due to poor sales. This might change when smash, bayonetta 2, and zelda come out this year but its still not good to have such statements.
Unlike the others however, Nintendo is way late in the game and only two things can save it. Pull a lot more 1st party AND 3rd party games out for the wii u or bring out the rumored Nintendo fusion console. IF the later becomes true however ever, they have to support both the wii u and fusion at the same time for some time in order to not lose there customer loyalty.
Lastly, we have the colossal mess that is the Xbone...dear god they screw this up. Its so bad that not even china, a country that just recently opened there gates to foreign game companies, almost refuse to buy it just off of word of mouth from the rest of the world. All it is is a Microsoft version of ps4 except with a kinect, making the system more expensive. The real problem how ever is its pre launch. DRM, always being online, and what some would say, shady practices such as bribing people to say its good and having fake fans in audiences in reveals, it was almost doomed from the start. They wised up some and did a few things to make it better but the damage had been done. The only saving grace is that its a Microsoft product and its a drop in the hat to a company like them and will definitely be back for another round.
So this brings us to the concluding question, are the big 3 dieing. Not really...they didn't do well this gen but they aren't going any where. However, there slip on the community grasp might allow something new to pass through the cracks, like steam box or something completely left field. Only time will tell.
For a long time now we have had the big 3 be our game platforms. PS, Xbox, and Nintendo had always been our choices for counsels to play on for the past 12 years (minus the dreamcast since it went the way of the do do). In the last gen we had major leaps in technology for games. The wii, the biggest seller of the three, showed that a gimmick done right and priced well can lead to major fun and sales. The xbox 360 made major leaps in online play. The ps4, despite having a serous rough start due to price and marketing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkNPcUMffU seriously?) came with probably the best tech of the 3.
So what did we get with this gen? A kinect that no one wanted, machines that are barely pushing 1080 ph, 60 frames, and the wii u gamepad. Not much in the whole grand scheme of things when we have computers that can do this with out a sweat, tablets that you can take any where, 4k tv's coming out soon and....things with out kinect...
With that being said, are the big 3 dieing in the game market?
Ok maybe i'm being a bit harsh with out reason so lets look what has been happening so far. We'll start with start with the best seller so far, the PS4.
It has sold over 10 million units since it has been released. While this is good, compared to its other competitor, the xbone, it is like choosing the same thing, just one cheaper then the other. Despite this success however, sony the company is still having major loses all over the map from tv's to mp3 players because of one problem, its not a “leader” any more. Most of what it sells isn't ground breaking but rather a copy cat of what ever is new and great. They don't strive to make it cheaper ether. This is why I am kindof mad at the ps4 is cause it had a chance to add 50 dollars worth of upgrades to its console, probably hitting that 4k limit instead of the barely 1080 p, and still sell way better then the Xbone. Again, Sony is no longer a leader, and we got a console that will only last 3 years rather then a decade like they preached to us.
Now to the next biggest seller, the wii u. As much as I am a fan of nintendo, they did screw up big time. I will say the game pad is a brilliant idea, I just wish they pushed it more by giving you the ability to take it any where and use the wii u like a cloud. Sort of like the vita just bigger. Enough about what I wanted though, lets talk about what we got. The wii u is not as powerful yes but it came out a year before the other 2 and in tech years, thats a big difference. So to barely hit the 1080 60 mark is more understandable. What isn't understandable was the amount of games released for it at launch, its name, marketing, and lack of 3rd party. That is what is killing Wii u. Many people didn't even know the wii u came out and even longer thought it was an add on to the wii cause of the name. The about of games, while getting much better now, was pathetic when it was first released, giving almost no reason to own it. And now, 3rd party support almost laughs at the idea of making games for it. Ubisoft just said recently that after watchdogs, they will not be making any more M rated games for Wii U due to poor sales. This might change when smash, bayonetta 2, and zelda come out this year but its still not good to have such statements.
Unlike the others however, Nintendo is way late in the game and only two things can save it. Pull a lot more 1st party AND 3rd party games out for the wii u or bring out the rumored Nintendo fusion console. IF the later becomes true however ever, they have to support both the wii u and fusion at the same time for some time in order to not lose there customer loyalty.
Lastly, we have the colossal mess that is the Xbone...dear god they screw this up. Its so bad that not even china, a country that just recently opened there gates to foreign game companies, almost refuse to buy it just off of word of mouth from the rest of the world. All it is is a Microsoft version of ps4 except with a kinect, making the system more expensive. The real problem how ever is its pre launch. DRM, always being online, and what some would say, shady practices such as bribing people to say its good and having fake fans in audiences in reveals, it was almost doomed from the start. They wised up some and did a few things to make it better but the damage had been done. The only saving grace is that its a Microsoft product and its a drop in the hat to a company like them and will definitely be back for another round.
So this brings us to the concluding question, are the big 3 dieing. Not really...they didn't do well this gen but they aren't going any where. However, there slip on the community grasp might allow something new to pass through the cracks, like steam box or something completely left field. Only time will tell.
the 1080p mark is a great way to show that one is graphically better then the other and makes everything look nice. however there si a point in time when you are just trying to put too much shine on a game and take up a large chunk of space only to find out that everything else is starting to fall behind or just downright is missing a lot of things.
the old saying went that graphics dont make game play. but at the same time, its better to have a game that looks like something then one that looks like they just told the computer to spit out a bunch of graphical noise.
another thing is poor choices made from not looking into their research and where everything is going. the Wii U was a nice step in to somehting, but they jumped in head first with out a plan and forgot that they needed soemthing to entice you to want what they have. and farther more cut off a lot fo the momentom one youtube and other sites that would allow them to get everyone to talk about it.
microsoft had some ideas, but the tried to out a strangle hold on everything and made their console completely unwanted.
the PS4 seems to be the best off, but the trouble they face is that most of their money tainked the generation before, and now they are trying to get everything back together.
gaming in consoles as we know is starting to fall away because of extremely poor choices and lack of interest in crowd feed back.
the only company closest to dieing at this point in time is sony due to far to many poor choices. and likely nintendo will stick around because they have money to burn. microsoft on the other hand I cannot tell for sure because they have their hands into too many things.
I don't hate any of them but their recent work has exactly inspired confidence in their products and I feel they've become complacent. "Who cares if the system is buggy and over priced, people will buy it anyway." But if a new company hit the market and stried up things, they might get their heads back in the game. Forgive the pun.
and xbox bone? yeah its terrible. I almost got it for dead rising 3, but found out that game was lackluster so I moved on
ps4? I almost got that too, but it has so few games I want to play that I ended up passing it up.
now I just play minecraft or boarderlands. go figure
also, I am curious, what became of the oyua? did it die? And is this the chance for new game companies to strike it rich in the market? a new big 3 coming soon?
Often times in the past it was harder or more expensive to get a game systems graphics for a computer, but now and days you can get just as much(and more) for prices rivaling those of the systems. I recently just got a graphics card for 150 that's brought my PC past the capabilities most of these 400 and 500 dollar systems give you. Ever since My interest in console gaming has switched completely to PC. This is definitely the generation where i(and many others it seems.) seem to be moving the past the big 3 consoles.
This new current gen of PS4 and Xbone hasn't proved as fruitful as they have promised in the E3 and other gaming outlets. I've never been able to get into the E3 watching, I'd rather get the facts and make an informed decision. With time, they can learn from their blunders and make a better console than what they have now.
He talks a lot about this sort of stuff. My personally take is that the companies at least Microsoft aren't dyeing. But consoles are. As least as we know them. Personally I thought the last generation was kind of a joke and that this was a long time coming.
Yes the Wii was the highest selling console, but it was also the least played, this does not make for a healthy market. The Xbox red ring of Death and the PS3 being close to $1,000 outside of US regions.
Simply put there is just no reason to invest in a console any more; not even for exclusives. Those exclusives will eventually make their way to PC and this generation will not last very long and I don't think there's a future for them ahead. I wish Microsoft would just focus more on Windows 9 and less on xbox. I am actually expecting them to bite the bullet and make an announcement at some point that goes like "Hey guys we're releasing all Halos' on Windows 9 now, come get it."
And so RIP the console industry.
the hardcore fans and themselves have tried hard to gloss over or dismiss any concerns, or throw out the "this is the future- if you don't like it you must just be some old geezer who refuses to adapt" - I hope they eventually begin to try to retain customers, rather than grabbing(and subsequently losing) as many as possible