Xbox and Nintendo have two completely opposite approaches to console gaming and its future. Which of the two do you think is right in the long term?

Which company is right about the future of console gaming

  • Xbox

    Votes: 24 10.7%

  • Nintendo

    Votes: 201 89.3%
  • Total voters
    225
I think the Xbox strategy of closing studios, laying people off, canceling games after 5+ years of development, and continually raising prices will win out in the long run.
 
mckmas8808 said:
We've never seen this "generic" route work in the console business. So why do you think it's inevitable?
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Because it's been heading in that direction for a while. Hardware has gradually gotten more and more same-y and is basically just a PC with a different OS at this point. 3P exclusives are evaporating. First parties are starting to put their games on other platforms or even on mobile. With the exception of Nintendo, there just isn't much differentiation anymore and I don't know where that trend is going to end. Which, again, is not something that I personally like. At all.
 
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LakeOf9 said:
Because it's been 40 years

The market has changed, the world has changed, consumer expectations have changed, consumer buying habits have changed, etc.

To be clear, I am not necessarily saying I believe that Nintendo's strategy isn't the winning strategy long term, I am saying that discussing the merits of Microsoft's strategy on its own and its long term viability is very much worth it. People are dismissing the strategy out of hand because it comes from Microsoft, who are incompetent bumbling fools. But that's the point I am making, Microsoft poisoned the well on several things initially that did turn out to be validated by market behaviour in the long term – the expectation for always online, the wholesale shift to digital, online fees – so the question is, is it possible the same will also happen here? That hardware agonisticism and "play anywhere" will be the standard for the market in the future initially, and Microsoft is just doing what they always do (like with tablets or smartphones or video calling or all the things mentioned above), which is being early and being shit
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I think the bolded is the misconception that I notice all the time from video game podcasters lately and even some on GAF. Guys................Microsoft aren't stupid idiots. They aren't fools at all. The execs at Microsoft are actually pretty smart. But when it comes to gaming, they are constantly trying to make gaming conform to what they do and know best. Most of the time, the two don't mesh well. That's the issue.

You even thinking Microsoft was validated with what they wanted to push with the Xbox One shows that you also totally missed the point (just like the MS Execs). It was the "FORCING" of an always online console that was the problem. Not having most people consoles online most of the time. Surely you see the difference in that statement, right? Plus, there's been no wholesale shift to digital. Again, you are missing the point. Plus if the Xbox Magnus is what leakers say it is, most people if not all of those gamers will also not be paying online fees.
 
Danny Dudekisser said:
Because it's been heading in that direction for a while. Hardware has gradually gotten more and more same-y and is basically just a PC with a different OS at this point. 3P exclusives are evaporating. First parties are starting to put their games on other platforms or even on mobile. With the exception of Nintendo, there just isn't much differentiation anymore and I don't know where that trend is going to end. Which, again, is not something that I personally like. At all.
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There's a lot of people that feel like you and don't like that direction. Happy to say, that's winning. Plus.......basically a PC with different OS is only the start. You wanna then go to the controllers, subscription services, views on VR, ability to play on the go, 1st party exclusives, cloud gaming options, remote play options, etc.

All 3 are doing alot of things differently actually.
 
LakeOf9 said:
Yeah, this is the point I am touching at, Microsoft obviously sucks at executing on their chosen business strategy and so are doing poorly... but is the business strategy itself bad, or is it just that they are bad at pulling it off?
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I think the strategy they are trying to do cannot be done at actual scale unless they own the SW stack they want consumers to reach them through.

Like what is the arena where they rule %100? Things like O365 and OneDrive where they can constantly upsell you via Windows.

There's been a concerted attempt to do the same with Xbox Gamepass and Windows but I sense that it doesn't really work because Valve are so dominant over there.

Similarly, they can't make much inroads with iOS and Android users because they don't own any of these stacks either, so they have to resort to begging regulators to carve out a measly %3ish marketshare for them.
LakeOf9 said:
Because it's been 40 years

The market has changed, the world has changed, consumer expectations have changed, consumer buying habits have changed, etc.

To be clear, I am not necessarily saying I believe that Nintendo's strategy isn't the winning strategy long term, I am saying that discussing the merits of Microsoft's strategy on its own and its long term viability is very much worth it. People are dismissing the strategy out of hand because it comes from Microsoft, who are incompetent bumbling fools. But that's the point I am making, Microsoft poisoned the well on several things initially that did turn out to be validated by market behaviour in the long term – the expectation for always online, the wholesale shift to digital, online fees – so the question is, is it possible the same will also happen here? That hardware agonisticism and "play anywhere" will be the standard for the market in the future initially, and Microsoft is just doing what they always do (like with tablets or smartphones or video calling or all the things mentioned above), which is being early and being shit
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I agree with what you're saying, but the other half of this story is another company or more coming in and actually executing well on whatever strategy Microsoft fumbled.

E.g. the Steam, PS4/5 and now Switch 2 slowly but surely shepherding their users into accepting digital delivery as the norm.
 
Astray said:
I think the strategy they are trying to do cannot be done at actual scale unless they own the SW stack they want consumers to reach them through.

Like what is the arena where they rule %100? Things like O365 and OneDrive where they can constantly upsell you via Windows.

There's been a concerted attempt to do the same with Xbox Gamepass and Windows but I sense that it doesn't really work because Valve are so dominant over there.

Similarly, they can't make much inroads with iOS and Android users because they don't own any of these stacks either, so they have to resort to begging regulators to carve out a measly %3ish marketshare for them.

I agree with what you're saying, but the other half of this story is another company or more coming in and actually executing well on whatever strategy Microsoft fumbled.

E.g. the Steam, PS4/5 and now Switch 2 slowly but surely shepherding their users into accepting digital delivery as the norm.
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Yeah, that's where it gets interesting. I think the more likely enjoyer of the boons of this strategy, if there are any, will be Valve. I can see them doing a new Steam console initiative, where like Steam Deck, they do a console based on SteamOS, Proton, and Big Picture Mode, but it's actually still a PC that you can do whatever you want with, just like Deck; and the OS/standard itself being licensed out to third parties as well.

I don't see Microsoft themselves winning out. But their strategy could well have its merits and end up at the top?

Of course, Nintendo's whole thing is total control of their IP, so I legitimately cannot see them ditching their own walled garden, ever, unless they basically end up with multiple Wii U level generators back to back and are forced to pivot. But for the rest of the industry? I can see it happening, via someone like Valve rather than Microsoft, yes, but I can see it happening.
 
LakeOf9 said:
Yeah, that's where it gets interesting. I think the more likely enjoyer of the boons of this strategy, if there are any, will be Valve. I can see them doing a new Steam console initiative, where like Steam Deck, they do a console based on SteamOS, Proton, and Big Picture Mode, but it's actually still a PC that you can do whatever you want with, just like Deck; and the OS/standard itself being licensed out to third parties as well.
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The two big issues for Valve here are:

1) If they want to execute any strategy that requires scaling, then they need to drastically change as a company, you can get away with maintaining an OS some servers and a storefront with 400ish people, but you can never launch a HW device at scale in the mass-market (like Apple) or strike-up deals with manufacturers all over the globe (like Google) with that kind of manpower, like they might need at least 5x the headcount to accomplish either option.

And guess what happens if they do that? They massively increase their costs and enterprise risk, which means mitigation might have to come via changing up the deal on their customers with things like paid online etc etc. Basically all the enshittification becomes on the menu now.

2) Anti-cheat is a disaster on Linux, especially with how open SteamOS is, and the biggest games on the globe rn don't support Linux (think EA FC, Madden, COD etc)..

This issue might be easier to work around and even turn into a revenue source by introducing their own anti-cheat solution, but the other side of this issue is many of the aforementioned big games are owned by Microsoft, which has absolutely zero interest in any kind of Linux adoption whatsoever, so even if Valve offers a good solution, Microsoft might not pay for it!
 
GameCube and Wii U had their issues, 360 was the urban beast but expected hardware failure early on (RROD) Xbox one was fairly basic, and switch is currently an industry trend vs the underperforming Series consoles.
 
Xbox for sure. Dedicated consoles that really only excel at one thing are going away, like mp3 players did back in the day. I give it 20 years before Nintendo starts porting games to PC and in about 30-35 years, all gaming will be done on PC and mobile, plus streaming.
 
I actually think Microsoft is right that over time these gaming platforms will become more hardware agnostic, and have their games on multiple form factor devices wherever they can go.

Just don't think Microsoft will actually pull it off because they don't make unique hardware, their game output is scattershot, and their storefront isn't very good.

Nintendo I think will be more successful because they were smart to make a hybrid device as graphical jumps have stagnated, and they wisely keep budgets down. Even though they tipped their toes into mobile, and they'll always prioritize their own hardware...I could see them being more successful adapting to releasing on multiple hardware form factors...just because they as a company have better content to sell.
 
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LakeOf9 said:
Xbox and Nintendo have two completely opposite approaches to console gaming and its future. Which of the two do you think is right in the long term?
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PlayStation.

But if not counting Sony because of potatoes, as platform the second most successful one after Sony is Nintendo.

As game publisher, they are a turd managing their teams and IPs, and creating new ones, but the most successful one of the three is Microsoft. And will be more once they kill the Xbox consoles, become 100% 3rd party and stop giving away their games day one in (at least non-GPU tiers) GP.
 
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memoryman3 said:
Xbox's vision for the future is healthier for gamers, but of course Nintendo has the characters...so I'm leaning towards them?
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Renting games is "healthier for gamers" as opposed to owning them?
Family Matters What GIF
 
xbox is dead. they arent in the console business anymore. putting out a pc that will be niche like steam machine was isnt the same thing. and even then they wont keep putting out pc's, their end goal is the cloud.
 
LOL 8% to 92% I did Except Nintendo to win this poll, but I was thinking something like 80% to 20%.
 
I prefer the idea of being able to play my games in multiple devices. Hopefully it will pay off and other companies will follow the lead.
 
We still don't know if cloud gaming will catch on to the causal audiences, that will be the determining factor.

But Nintendo has the strongest brands in the world, and don't need a giant company to support them.
 
I like that Microsoft tries new things. I don't like that they do it in the most stupid way possible.

For instance I like that they are bringing back Fable. I don't like that they have yet to release it, and from what I've seen so far it's a far cry from what I was expecting.

Essentially Microsoft grants monkey paw wishes.
 
"Xbox and Nintendo have two completely opposite approaches to console gaming and its future"

Xbox doesn't have an approach for console gaming. That is very specific and only Nintendo is doing it at this point.
 
Xbox's approach was to sell so badly they had to pivot into a third party publisher?

Thats not an approach, not a plan, that's a failure
 
Nintendo lives and dies by their IPs. They treat them like their life depends on it because it does. Microsoft does not respect their own IPS except office and windows.

Nintendo is a video game company first and foremost. Nothing else to say really.
 
Why console market needs to change just because Microsoft says so? Who is really unhappy or is inconvenienced by the traditional console ?

We are discussing problems created by the giant corporations themselves. Gamepass failure shows people buying habits hasn't really changed that much and they rely on great games with their predetermined convenience above anything else. xCloud is definitely the ONLY thing to look out for from Xbox, and in 15 years Sony and Nintendo (25Years) will have their own cloud services to compete.

Steam can't fail. Nintendo can't fail. As long as they keep doing what they are doing. Keep game development costs low, keep creativity high, take average amount of risks.

As a customer myself what could possibly make me switch my habits. Linux based better performance in games and peanut cheap Netflix of Games on Cloud. Both of which Xbox cannot provide.

LakeOf9 said:
The market has changed, the world has changed, consumer expectations have changed, consumer buying habits have changed, etc.
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Changed how. Except the rise in digital adoption of games not much has really changed. Game Genres repeats themselves and Nintendo certainly knows how to deal with them. Consumer expectations are changed among young kids yes but are easier to cater to because they only play 2 games for the rest of their teen life. Throw shit at the wall and be lucky you were there at the start. Nintendo (Parent + Child) combo is definitely the best way to introduce new people. We still miss E3 and console life cycles and games that used to work with low console prices. I honestly don't think much has changed except for the roblox playing young people.
 
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I hope the Nintendo model is here to stay but MS are putting a lot of effort into the "just get a pc" narrative and it's being parroted by all the shills. If MS win the PR war this time then sure, I can see a big change coming. If PC wins then Microsoft wins, and I suppose that's what a lot of their most ardent supports want, even if it means the death of traditional console gaming.
 
Mattyp said:
5x the consoles and still no where near the revenue.

Shows how much money really is in software and DLC.
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Shows how much money really is in going third party when your console fails.

Also revenue is pointless without profit.
 
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Xbox is out of the conversation, they aren't what they were in 2001, they'll end up like Atari, but without the money problems
 
Long term def xbox things are changing whether we like it or not. Streaming games and being able to play your games anywhere and on anything will be gamings final form.
 
Humdinger said:
I think Xbox is abandoning the console market, so I see their opinion on the matter as irrelevant.
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You misunderstand, they are ahead of their time. They see 20 years in the future when Nintendo will have a PC app, and decided to beat them to the punch by forfeiting two decades of console business. Microsoft is never wrong, they're just paying to be right at their preferred time. Decades from now, people will go SEE! THEY ARE VINDICATED!
 
Neither is right. Nintendo is a law-firm selling memorabilia toys, and Microsoft is a ransomware company that moonlights as a data collection sales agency.
 
What a silly poll 🤣 Was this even remotely up for debate – especially on NeoGAF of all places?

Of course it's Nintendo.
 
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Nintendo actually has exclusives of some very good games which will continue to remain exclusive in the future. If I want to play those games I need to get their system.
 
Nintendo is a toy company, they make consoles as a cultural product, they have cultural impact and they make money with it.

Xbox makes a store front and they chase recurring revenues with a 30% profit margin, video games are nothing but another method to make people pay more and more.

This is clear when you listen to the exects of each company talk to the public and how they present their products. Xbox execs keep talking business, engagement, delivery methods, etc. Nintendo talks about the games, they focus on the "fun", so despite not being a fan of theirs I recognize that and appreciate their presence.

Microsoft is better with MS Office than with video games.
 
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