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[ViciousAgenda]

The true power king will return.

S.N.K.

 

[DenchDeckard]

PS3 (three) sold like hot cakes for this price in 2007.

No it didnt, the PS3 perfromed so poorly that sony changed its design, dropped BC and did everything possible to lower the price to claw back market share.

 

[hinch7]

I don't think anyone realistically could. Microsoft can still make a viable alternative by offering a proper console/PC hybrid. And an OS built like console much like SteamOS but run games on Windows, Steam, GOG, EGS etc.

Say they offer a $700 PC/Console with a 4080 level GPU and latest Zen processor that would do really well in Asia and a lot of countries. A market they still have yet to tap into, yet are very PC centric ones.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

PS3 (three) sold like hot cakes for this price in 2007.

No it didn't.

It recieved a price cut and a redesign that significantly boosted sales.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

No one is sitting in a board room and looking at Playstations dominance and thinking "yeah we could go toe to toe with those guys at a competitive price"

MS still can fill a great role for people that love Xbox games and gamepass

I think we see their next plan of attack fairly soon ish

 

[RCX]

I don't know if anyone would want to.

R&D costs are massive and the incumbents (Nintendo and Sony) are very strong. Coupled with the fact that the console business is under a lot of pressure from PC and mobile, I just don't know how attractive it would be to anyone with the resources.

People suggest apple but theyd fuck it up instantly by charging far too much for underpowered hardware.

 

[Cakeboxer]

PS3 (three) sold like hot cakes for this price in 2007.

No, the price was one reason why 360 was so strong that gen (the other was piracy). PS3 had to make price cuts, to make the console attractive, but then it was even for non gamers (Blu Ray player).

 

[RagnarokIV]

Nobody could or, more importantly, want to at this stage.

 

[KXVXII9X]

I think Valve's Steam Deck has kind of reached that point. It doesn't exactly have exclusives but has its own store and its own OS. It has a verified feature so you know what games run on it. It seemed to take the Switch idea and refine it. I think it is the perfect evolution of a console.

Apple could definitely break into the industry. They have powerful mobile chips which are used in multiple devices. I think their Vision Pro and tablets could easily be turned into viable flatscreen gaming devices. After a few years I could see their headsets getting cheaper or introduce a budget line.

I would also say the Meta Quest line is definitely a console at this point. It isn't anywhere as popular but it definitely a dedicated gaming device with still a lot of untapped potential with a lot more room to grow unlike the consoles we have now.

 

[DavidGzz]

Valve. No pay to play online, free cloud saves(unlike $ony), and a Steam Deck 2 for your library on the go. Half-Life 3 as a launch title.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Apple or Valve have the best shot. Apple has fuck you money and loyal fans so anything they put out is pretty much guaranteed to sell. Valve is rich enough to do it and doesn’t need to answer to shareholders. Both would pose a threat to Sony.

Valve is kinda half way there. They have their own store and the Steam Deck is like a more powerful Switch. They should create a traditional console and start creating or buying exclusive games.

Apple is similar. All they’d need to do is make an Apple TV like device but more powerful and have it be able to run iOS games and macOS.

Neither Apple nor Valve have the content and Valve doesn't have the money.

A steam deck console would fail. Again not being in retail is basically a death sentence. They have no chance to beat Sony on pricing of the console or on content.

Apple would be in a very similar position to Microsoft and again, won't be able to buy their content due to antitrust lawsuits already facing them.

 

[elhav]

KFC or Soulja boy are the realistic options

 

[Kacho]

No, good luck pulling people away from the ecosystems they’re invested in.

 

[Maddoxswe]

The one in your Playstation wallet.

Thank god i'm no brokie then You can continue to hire your games and leave the people alone that want to own their games

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

If MS with all their zillions couldn't make it work, what is the point of another company wasting billions?

 

[Roman Empire]

Idk about the general industry OP, but I could fill the void in your .

Jokes aside. I could see Samsung trying to get into the gaming market now that Korean developers are coming strong and the government is investing in the sector.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Microsoft should just announce the rumoured next gen console ASAP. Make it £999 and a beast. Would go down well after that PS5 pro unveil.

 

[Eszti]

soulja boy, clearly.

 

[BlackTron]

That will never happen. There will always be differences between mobile-based and tethered-based hardware. Same way there will always be a difference between tethered-based consoles and a desktop PC.

The day that difference stops to exist is when we are no longer advancing technologically and you can fit a 4090 class PC in a 30W mobile handheld.

I never said there won't be a difference. Just that the difference will matter much less than last gen, in a way that makes Nintendo a bigger menace for Sony than before.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Money isn't the only thing that matters in a creative industry.

Sure, but with the way the consumers of this creative industry stan their plastic boxes, money is very important.

In that sense Apple probably has the best shot, their users already behave like they are in a cult.

 

[ManaByte]

PS3 (three) sold like hot cakes for this price in 2007.

Jack Tretton said taking over SCEA when he did was like being the Captain of the Titanic.

 

[Jesb]

GFN is kind of a platform on its own. That is huge and will keep growing. Eventually we maybe have the option to stream with VR headsets too. I see it now as Sony, Steam, Xbox, GFN, Nintendo.

 

[Unknown?]

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Second coming of SEGA let's fucking go

SEGA are a shell of what they were when they failed twice (Saturn and Dreamcast).

Can’t imagine them coming up with better hardware and network infrastructure than Sony and being able to sell it for cheaper.

And unlike Apple they have no established ecosystem (backwards compatibility with Saturn and Dreamcast is all they could offer).

As for games, SEGA mostly produce crap these days.

Best you can hope for is a “SEGA” branded Steambox that compliments their 90s console aesthetic but plays Steam games.

 

[Hrk69]

 

[Bonfires Down]

Only Valve could do it. Anyone else would have to invest ridiculous money not just securing exclusives but also making sure they get ports from all third parties.

Valve can just slap some shit together and throw it out there at $600. Even if they only sell 10% of Sony they are at no risk of losing third party support and they are not taking any significant financial risk. Anyone else would collapse with that few sales.

Valve knows where their bread and butter is so they can just treat a potential Steam Machine like this if they want:

 

[Kings Field]

I’d buy a new steam machine for sure if it was powerful enough and priced decently.

 

[I'm nobody]

Facebook will enter the race with a meta console that comes with vr and screen and dock

 

[DryvBy]

It would be way worse for a newcomer. It would be Linux vs Windows at this point.

 

[Darsxx82]

Xbox survived because they had a massive treasure chest. Don't get that twisted. Only a company(s) like them, with the kinda money they have, has a chance in hell at dethroning Sony from the home console segment. Fortunately for Sony, MS are also stupid.

Good for you if you think that money alone has kept XBOX in the industry for almost 30 years, but no, it's not.

It didn't end, never has. It carried sony at the beginning and carried Xbox too, you really shouldn't just look at the fallacy of MS actions and use that to paint an entire narrative.

This was a strategy of Sony and XBOX decades ago when that was a possibility and the competition was greater.

The reality today is that there are fewer and fewer Third Party exclusives. Studios and publishers are pursuing this strategy of launching their games on all possible platforms. "Exclusivity" is being reduced to AA titles or new IPs. Sony is having big problems contracting 1/5 of the number of exclusives it had 15 years ago and we are talking about PS with its large user base. Imagine now the difficulties for someone with 0 user base and no roots in the industry trying to buy exclusivity of games so that these do not come out on a PS console

Its still happening, albeit now the games come to PC and consoles, because I believe its become clear that both markets do not cannibalize each other. But more importantly, it happens in a very subtle way with consoles too.

Console games (including Sony's first party games) are coming to PC simply because the console market is no longer sufficient to amortize their development costs. There is no need to invent another reason.

That is to say, the console market is becoming small even for Sony, even though it is the outstanding market leader. Now tell me what prospects a new competitor may have of entering, investing billions and believing that the bet may have a chance of success.

You don't see games that come to PlayStation/Xbox typically go to Nintendo platforms,

??? These games do not arrive due to a simple technical limitation. If Switch 2 is capable enough, you will see how many more will arrive...

and releasing for PlayStation these days is almost as good as it being a console exclusive, even when they are also releasing on Xbox with how dominant sony is in certain regions or how some devs outright skip Xbox, even without the need for a money-hat.

Whatever you want to believe....

The reality is that this is the generation of Xbox consoles where more games of all types and origins come to the platform and the games that are not released are either exceptional cases or lesser games than In the end they end up being released.

Imagine when in the days of X360 In the days of 360 there was talk of big franchises and Ips from big publishers (Yakuza, Monster Hunter, Dragon quest, Persona, etc, etc) were not released on Xbox consoles.... Now the controversy is in collections of retro games from fight (which in the end are released) or exceptional cases of Studios indi AA or AAA with few means that delay their release.... That should be enough for anyone to see the reality of the situation and the difficulties in achieving exclusivity in this industry.
That alone should make it clear to you what the situation and vision of the Studios and Publishers is about limiting their games to one platform.

I also disagree with this, what you need, are like 3-5 stand-out games. And the trust or expectation from consumers that you can output stuff like that every generation.

As you describe it, it seems very easy to achieve. The reality is different. The reality is that achieving just one big success and making your investment in it profitable is a lottery. The games that move money and users are games that were launched 10 years ago. He adds that now a game of the type he describes needs 6-7 years of development and enormous costs. Now try to spend all that money on investment to launch it only on a non-existent user base

Basically, you need an identity. Eg. MS has the largest assembled number of studios under one publisher in gaming history. EVER. And look at all the good that has done for them.

Games, sell hardware. People seem to forget that it is and has always been that simple.

I agree with this, but I don't think its that hard to do, at least not money-wise. It might be hard catching lightning in a bottle though, cause that is what you would need to do with at least one or two games on your platform. Eg. (sorry for using MS again, but they are such an easy reference point of what not to do) MS spent over $80B acquiring studios in the space of 4 years.

They could have built, marketed and shipped 20 unique IPs, and even acquire one or two popular IPs there and make it their own, with a quarter of that money. MS is a good example of having money to throw at the problem, but lacking the brains to do anything with it.

Apple can do it. Just saying. So can Samsung.

I repeat, there are several companies with the money and potential to enter the console market, very few but there are. Another thing is that some of them see fit to take an extreme risk and do it and lose thousand of billions in the attempt in a market that has been hitting its ceiling for 3 decades, where hardware does not make money and to amortize that software a user base of 150 million high specs market)is not enough. Now remind them that it is going to compete with Sony Playstation... So the result is that there are 0 interested companies.

And this is being told to you by someone who signed today for XBOX to leave the market if that would cause new competitors to enter, as many as possible. But reality collides with what one may wish for.

 

[KyoZz]

By the poll I can only see Valve, but I would love a Dreamcast 2.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Does anyone have to?

It's not like Xbox has had any noticeable impact in a decade anyway. It's basically PlayStation and Nintendo in the console business.

 

[Doctor Hades]

Valve would be the obvious one to step in if Microsoft left the hardware market as they have experience with gaming on PC. I'd hate to see Apple step in though because that would likely mean expensive new console models every year that are iterative improvements on the previous ones and high prices (though Sony seem to be doing a good job of imitating Apple at the moment with the PS5 Pro pricing!). Also, Apple utterly suck for games. Mac has never been a gaming platform and I would never ever play games on my iPad because tablet/phone gaming sucks.

 

[baphomet]

Could a huge mega corporation attempt to buy the industry? Of course

The hardest part to fill would be having all that talent and still only managing to release a couple mediocre games each year.

 

[GHG]

Sure, but with the way the consumers of this creative industry stan their plastic boxes, money is very important.

In that sense Apple probably has the best shot, their users already behave like they are in a cult.

Don't worry, Microsoft have had and still have more than enough of those (including the paid ones) and the result is still what it is.

 

[Trelane]

Man, at this point I don’t really know if there would be another viable contender. Breaking into the industry at this point seems to be not worth the trouble. I see a future where it’s only Nintendo, PC, and maybe PlayStation. Mobile will be there, but are mobile games really comparable?

 

[Bond007]

i think Apple could do it- but their prices would be outrageous and they would milk us damn near annually.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Valve or Apple. Valve already has a foot in with Steamdeck and 3rd party making portabe devices that play steam etc

 

[BennyBlanco]

I don’t think Valve has the capacity to manufacture and do customer service for 80M consoles without taking in outside investors who would fuck it all up.

I actually think Epic/Tencent could pull it off. EGS stinks but it has a decent library of software. Make Fortnite/ rocket league and all that Mihoyo slop exclusive. It could work.

 

[intheinbetween]

Wait is it ok to root for Valve to replace MS when Steam themselves are selling a portable PC/Steam device (which can run SteamOS and Windows) while mocking at Microsoft for their hypothetical PC-Console approach? lol

 

[DerivedDataCache]

I think Apple gives 0 fucks about games and game developers give 0 fucks about Apple.

 

[intheinbetween]

I think Apple gives 0 fucks about games and game developers give 0 fucks about Apple.

Pretty much my thoughts on Apple and most of the companies listed in the poll.

 

[diffusionx]

I don’t think there would be a void if MS left the console business.

I think Apple gives 0 fucks about games and game developers give 0 fucks about Apple.

Wrong on both counts.

 

[ReBurn]

Do we even know if there would be a void if Xbox went away?

 

[Judge Magister]

I don't think other companies see Microsoft suffering and think: that's it, let's go in folks! Besides they are already into mobile / portable stuff.

By the way where's Panic Inc. option?!

 

[Interfectum]

Valve can. Steam Deck is really close to being a breakout hit. Just needs another iteration or two.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Antarctica is out.
S. America is out.
Europe is out.
Africa is out.
Australia is out.

N. America soon to be out.

Any Lizzard people inside the Earth or on the Moon willing to step up?

 

[King Dazzar]

Valve could. Just tailor their Big Picture mode and a steam OS and away they go. If the days of the subsidised console is gone, even easier for them.

 

[Astray]

Valve can. Steam Deck is really close to being a breakout hit. Just needs another iteration or two.

Steam Deck is at like 3-4m sold units at this point.

These are PS Portal numbers, not dominant console numbers.

 

[Interfectum]

Steam Deck is at like 3-4m sold units at this point.

These are PS Portal numbers, not dominant console numbers.

Hence "close to being"