Support NeoGAF

[Jubenhimer]

In the gaming industry, some companies who are currently third party publishers that used to develop their own gaming platforms such as Atari, SNK, and Sega. But what if we looked at it in reverse? What game company that was always a third party publisher that you could've seen doing well as a major console manufacturer at any point in their history?

For me, of the major third parties, I feel Capcom always had the most potential as a platform holder.

Capcom was one of the major players in the Arcade business during its peak, so they already had experience with hardware development. Plus, of the major Japanese third party companies, Capcom has some of the most recognizable franchises and an characters across both the Arcade and Console/PC space from Street Fighter, to Mega Man, to Resident Evil, to Ace Attorney, to Monster Hunter.

Capcom's franchise roster arguably rivals Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment in terms of sales and critical acclaim. So their games are obviously strong enough to carry a hypothetical Capcom console.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Activision is part of MS/Xbox.

Not sure how you fit them in there.

 

[Tams]

Sega.

 

[bitbydeath]

None of those.
Sega or Konami could.

 

[Deerock71]

I voted for Activision...but not even Microsoft thinks they should be contained to one platform.

 

[Plies]

They should all at least make legacy mini consoles.
I think Capcom has already done something close to this.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Oh this is an easy one.

Sega

 

[LakeOf9]

I mean the people who have their own console can barely manage their own consoles at this point, I doubt we can see anyone else do it better

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I think the two that could pull it off, if they went all in and funded lots of exclusives is Steam and Apple.
I don't think either will give it a real go, and fund lots of studios. Probably just that Steam box for the living room.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Sega.

Yes. It's kind of a cop out answer for obvious reasons, but it's the correct one. Sega could even Make Sports Games Great Again, like they went for with the Genesis and Dreamcast.

 

[Ozzie666]

None of them have the cash to succeed but for shits and giggles. Sega is just laughable. Konami what?

Electronic Arts was probably the closest any third party not named Microsoft has come. At least at it's peak when it had tons of titles.

FIFA conquers Europe, Madden conquers America. NHL entertains parts of Europe and Canada.

FIFA and Madden are a strong base if they had an exclusive console to put them on. They could do well in 2/3 of the world.

But in 2025, none of them have the support, developers to survive a console launch.

There was a time when Capcom could have launched it's own handheld on the back of Monster Hunter series. That time has passed.

Apple or Amazon would need to buy several big publishers to make it happen.

 

[64gigabyteram]

Capcom could do it. Plus it'd probably force them to give more attenttion to their less well known series as they'd need a constant slew of exclusives.

 

[Tobimacoss]

Sega.

SEGA making an Xbox as an OEM, I can see it happening.

Sega Xbox Dreambox

 

[Woopah]

Microsoft.

All joking aide, I think the only one with the staff / variety of output is Bandai Namco.

 

[Sintoid]

Some Chinese giant
A console shaped like boobs and ass

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

None. Madness.

 

[REDRZA MWS]

EA

 

[Pejo]

EA would have a repurposed Amazon Fire stick with a credit card slot.

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

In the gaming industry, some companies who are currently third party publishers that used to develop their own gaming platforms such as Atari, SNK, and Sega. But what if we looked at it in reverse? What game company that was always a third party publisher that you could've seen doing well as a major console manufacturer at any point in their history?

For me, of the major third parties, I feel Capcom always had the most potential as a platform holder.

Capcom was one of the major players in the Arcade business during its peak, so they already had experience with hardware development. Plus, of the major Japanese third party companies, Capcom has some of the most recognizable franchises and an characters across both the Arcade and Console/PC space from Street Fighter, to Mega Man, to Resident Evil, to Ace Attorney, to Monster Hunter.

Capcom's franchise roster arguably rivals Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment in terms of sales and critical acclaim. So their games are obviously strong enough to carry a hypothetical Capcom console.

I miss one on that list, but that third party developer has a console but the future of that console is
hanging in the Clouds....the next "console" of that third party developer is a kind of pc-handheld thingy...but defently NOT a console. You know who that third party developer is

 

[Cert.in.Death]

None is the correct answer.

 

[ecosse_011172]

SEGA making an Xbox as an OEM, I can see it happening.

Sega Xbox Dreambox

 

[Hudo]

None of them, to be honest.

 

[digdug2]

I could see Ubisoft having their own console. It would look something like this:

 

[PlayStaytion]

I think we'll know the answer when they're about to lose their identity. 2K, Bethesda, EA and Capcom.

 

[viveks86]

Valve?

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

XBOX

Oh.

Wait.

Be cool, it's just a joke

 

[Badlucktroll]

Not Sega they already failed. I remember reading that konami thought about making a console sometime in the 90s

 

[ReBurn]

None of them. Third party publishers aren't going to want more diversity in hardware or the expense of maintaining a platform. They're going to want as much homogeneity as possible in hardware to keep their development costs down. The only way I could see one of these companies releasing a console is if there were no other way to sell their games.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Yet a little while, it will come and will not delay.

 

[rodrigolfp]

None.

 

[geary]

Valve is the closest. The other big tech company that might have a changes is Meta, since they have Quest.

 

[Spyxos]

Nobody. I don't think consoles will be around for much longer. There's little point in getting involved now. That would just be a waste of money.

Edit: Perhaps Tencent, but they would be more likely to build a platform on TV/Mobile or Steam competitors than their own console.

 

[Edgelord79]

None if they are smart. It's a business move that's incredibly risky and the risk isn't worth the reward.

 

[yurinka]

Being realistic, none. But if I had to bet one, Tencent is the only one who could have the money and interest on doing so only if PS considerably grows and ends becoming 'too big' in China.

But consoles for Tencent is a relatively small market and they always supported all platforms and markets, so I think won't release a console. If something they make consolized PCs like Valve an MS.

I think Google or Apple could improve their support for paid games & games controlled with gamepad games, and to give a more console gaming focus to Apple TV or Google Chrome & Android TV, also supporting their own or external cloud gaming for AAA games there. But in both cases I think they'll continue prioritizing their existing gaming business focused in F2P and casual they already have mostly in mobile (more successful in userbase and revenue than consoles).

Capcom could do it. Plus it'd probably force them to give more attenttion to their less well known series as they'd need a constant slew of exclusives.

To stop making games for other platforms would destroy most of their revenue and profit. Same goes for the other 3rd parties.

AAA games, and particularly the GaaS ones, need to be able to reach an as big as possible userbase. So in recent generations the AAA companies have been expanding their multiplatform side and reducing their exclusives side. A trend that will continue because as always AAA games will continue getting more expensive the next generation.

Fun fact: in the 90s Capcom did an unsuccessful console: CPS Changer, the only platform that allowed you to play 1:1 versions of their arcade games at home, since basically the cartridges were pretty much the same arcade games. A pretty similar approach to the -less unsuccessful- Neo·Geo concept:

 

[Dorfdad]

None now. The future of gaming is 100 in cloud and portable / docked hybrids the ps6 will be the last stationary console imho.

You will have the big players in shopping and media in the gaming space going forward.

Nvidia
Microsoft
Sony
Amazon

And either google will return or Apple will jump in. Apple will probably compete with switch more so if they get into gaming with a dockable iPhone that they s a game console also

5-10 years

 

[radiant_ch]

None is the correct answer.

!

Nothing more ro add here. It's just... Considering all factors... Just no.

 

[Wildebeest]

Bandai did have their own console, the WonderSwan

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Some Chinese giant

 

[BennyBlanco]

Take 2. Exclusive GTA and NBA2k would immediately give them the normie audience.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I was thinking tencent?

 

[Gamer King]

None, just giants like Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta could enter in this battle, but they will not since this is a segment stagnated at best and with two major players (Nintendo and Sony) very consolidated.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Valve

 

[Tobimacoss]

Being realistic, none. But if I had to bet one, Tencent is the only one who could have the money and interest on doing so only if PS considerably grows and ends becoming 'too big' in China.

But consoles for Tencent is a relatively small market and they always supported all platforms and markets, so I think won't release a console. If something they make consolized PCs like Valve an MS.

I think Google or Apple could improve their support for paid games & games controlled with gamepad games, and to give a more console gaming focus to Apple TV or Google Chrome & Android TV, also supporting their own or external cloud gaming for AAA games there. But in both cases I think they'll continue prioritizing their existing gaming business focused in F2P and casual they already have mostly in mobile (more successful in userbase and revenue than consoles).


To stop making games for other platforms would destroy most of their revenue and profit. Same goes for the other 3rd parties.

AAA games, and particularly the GaaS ones, need to be able to reach an as big as possible userbase. So in recent generations the AAA companies have been expanding their multiplatform side and reducing their exclusives side. A trend that will continue because as always AAA games will continue getting more expensive the next generation.

Fun fact: in the 90s Capcom did an unsuccessful console: CPS Changer, the only platform that allowed you to play 1:1 versions of their arcade games at home, since basically the cartridges were pretty much the same arcade games. A pretty similar approach to the -less unsuccessful- Neo·Geo concept:

I can see Tencent or Lenovo build Xbox Consoles or Xbox PCs for the Chinese market. Basically as OEMs.

 

[Celine]

No game company (third-party publisher) will ever be competitive in the console business, it's too late to try to challenge Nintendo and PlayStation.
A serious attempt would risk to bankrupt the company.
By the early '00s the barrier of entrance was already too high with big corporations like Sony and Microsoft ready to bleed out of the market any potential rival.
Even earlier the risk was such that even Namco, among the strongest arcade videogame companies in the World at the time, didn't have the guts to proceed with the plans to release their own console codenamed "NC1" due to the advance costs to manufacture 3 million units to sell and the connected risk in case of failure.

But even if nowaday a normal third-party publisher (I'm not talking of Tencent) would be so foolish to attempt to release their own console why would the mass market choose it over Nintendo or PlayStation?
One might think that by making their own games exclusive thet might give a reason to the mass market to splash hundreds of bucks to buy the console but the other side of the coin is that every console publishers survival is based on supporting all the available platforms.
Making games exclusive to an unproven new console would badly hurt their bottomline.

Valve has released, and might release in the future, console-like devices (Steam Deck is their most successful attempt as of now) but that's because Valve is already a platform holder with Steam that is a digital platform that leverage the computer/PC ecosystem and their console-like devices, obviously "PC based", are boutique attempts (niche products) that don't have the ambition to sell what Nintendo and PlayStation does because the userbase isn't built throught the proprietary hardware but already exists.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

didn't you hear? consoles are dying


but conceptually, any publisher with its own storefront has a "console" already

 

[Alan Silvestro]

Samsung.

 

[Dacvak]

How is my guy gonna exclude Sega like that

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Sega.

 

[Det]

Microsoft

 

[cash_longfellow]

Sega…and I would not be surprised if they took another stab at it if Microsoft decides to step away from the console business. As it is though, with 3 major players already, the answer is none.