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[Guilty_AI]

Lack of people means lack of software. Lack of software means lack of people.
A viciouc cycle.
And MS in their style do everything in their might to maintain this - so their programs to give free win/office for schools and students so people get into ecosystem from young age and stay in it.

The software doesnt even need to be native. Do you think SteamOS is running all those games natively? The vast majority of them use a translation layer (its not even emulation per say so its very efficient). In fact, the largest issue with running windows games on linux right now arent even the games themselves but third party anti-cheat/DRM software that tends to be very intrusive.

 

[clappedcheeks]

As has been said already in this thread, when cheap laptops are catching up to consoles, the console will still be a cheaper option by virtue of the fact it doesn't need all the extra hardware. Players will still choose the cheaper option. As with regard to multipurpose devices, as that's the angle you seem to be going for, phones will still be the most used device for everyday use. This thread just seems like an excuse to cheerlead for a future dominated by MS and their new gaming for windows ambitions. There seems to be a lot of that happening lately. People need to realise that some of us don't want a PC, and never will, no matter how pretty the party frock you try and dress it up with.

 

[Parazels]

A smartphone can replace a laptop,
but a laptop can't replace a smartphone.

Therefore, smartphones are even closer to consoles, than laptops! The OP opted for the worst case scenario!

 

[CliffBronger]

I expect they will turn into small factor pc's or even integrated into future game ready tvs where Xbox PlayStation are simply an app that you install.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

It definitely feels inevitable, especially with the rise of cloud gaming.

With Stadia and Xcloud being huge flops I'm not sure.

The business model is as big an issue as the latency.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I expect they will turn into small factor pc's or even integrated into future game ready tvs where Xbox PlayStation are simply an app that you install.

Wouldn't that mean PC hardware prices though?

Sony and Nintendo subsidise the upfront cost of the console, if that goes away then tens of millions of people will instantly be put off.

 

[CliffBronger]

Wouldn't that mean PC hardware prices though?

Sony and Nintendo subsidise the upfront cost of the console, if that goes away then tens of millions of people will instantly be put off.

Who knows how advanced ARM/Snapdragon processors are or what Intel Nvidia will be up to 15-20 years time or even the prices for that matter.

 

[Felessan]

I expect they will turn into small factor pc's or even integrated into future game ready tvs where Xbox PlayStation are simply an app that you install.

Extra 1000$ to the price of TV will make it a very niche and non-viable solution for tv market
Also size constrains of 300+ tdp make it hard to build-in to tv.

And consoles always were "a small factor PC" just with dedicated hardware and software.

Who knows how advanced ARM/Snapdragon processors are or what Intel Nvidia will be up to 15-20 years time or even the prices for that matter.

And what will stop consoles to utilize the same stuff in 300+tdp 500$+ dedicated device?

 

[Celine]

Commodification will push the console industry toward an open model more similar to "PC" in which the platform is represented by the 'soft" part (software and services) and not the hardware; the need for custom hardware will dwindle over time.
Nintendo will still produce dedicated hardware (consoles) decades from now.

 

[laynelane]

As has been said already in this thread, when cheap laptops are catching up to consoles, the console will still be a cheaper option by virtue of the fact it doesn't need all the extra hardware. Players will still choose the cheaper option. As with regard to multipurpose devices, as that's the angle you seem to be going for, phones will still be the most used device for everyday use. This thread just seems like an excuse to cheerlead for a future dominated by MS and their new gaming for windows ambitions. There seems to be a lot of that happening lately. People need to realise that some of us don't want a PC, and never will, no matter how pretty the party frock you try and dress it up with.

That's the reality that people who argue for the death of consoles don't seem to really understand. And there's been a failure to understand that for a number of years already and I expect it to continue. The continued success of Sony and Nintendo will also have no impact on this line of thought either.

 

[Felessan]

Commodification will push the console industry toward an open model more similar to "PC" in which the platform is represented by the 'soft" part (software and services) and not the hardware; the need for custom hardware will dwindle over time.
Nintendo will still produce dedicated hardware (consoles) decades from now.

Money made on ecosystems. So walled garden ecosystems will always be a first choice and their own locked hardware is a part of it.

 

[crackajack]

we are talking once a budget laptop hits parity with high end consoles

Office PCs are already good enough in Mini PC form factor, which are kinda laptops without a display. The tech for Excel, Powerpoint, Mail, Browser, SAP etc. does not need anything more than that anymore. Those replaced towers and desktops in many work environments. And maybe in the future anything small isn't that much worse or anything bigger isn't that much better, so no one cares anymore. Switch is good enough for many already today, while definitely not on par. The gap might grow and become smaller at the same time. And most then might just play the very same stuff on phones that are than wirelessly connected to their TV and VR glasses (or some neural implants) once even AI won't be able to optimise game assets visible anymore and more compute power just won't change anything really, just make it more complex without any obvious benefit.
Consoles are already today almost PCs, not running on entirely separate hw anymore, just a specialized OS and maybe a few tweaks on the standard PC components. In the case of Switch parts rather coming from the Smartphone world. I think Windows 12 will fuse x86 and ARM as well.

Currently raytracing alone needs kinda the same power as everything else combined. In a not final iteration. Physics is not even close to accurate, water simulation, air simulation, real time physics destruction/deformation, next gen euphoria animation. All that might get to a good enough level before actually reaching a truly accurate simulation. As slow as HW is evolving in the past years even big high end PCs won't be able to compute that all properly in coming years, in real time. We will reach a point where no one cares for all that in a much better version, so no one will pay its development. Outside of real simulation, but not for fun in gaming, which probably will then also slow down scientific simulation, since more power parts just for them will be too expensive at some point.
Let's call it "economic/practical parity", that point might actually be reached rather soonish, when no one is willing anymore to make the next Crysis because no one cares for possible but kinda invisible advancements anymore, then it just becomes useless, then having various devices makes no sense, the possible better, bigger machines just would never get software support, but that is so far away, that it is vague to predict. That's flying cars from 50s dreams and Skynet becomes self aware 1997 fantasies.

 

[WoJ]

We aren't talking about today. We are talking about when parity has been reached. Only one person even provided an estimate as to when that would be, and they said something like 20 years from now.

Look at market share 20 years ago for those things you just referenced. A lot can change in 20 years.

I know you aren't talking about today and agree that a lot can change in 20 years. The rise of mobile gaming as a platform proves that. But you're also suggesting a lot of hypotheticals and asking when those hypotheticals become reality. Maybe they will, maybe they won't.

Based on the data available today and the financial success of the PS5 and Nintendo there is nothing that I look at today that says consoles will become a thing of the past. Will they change? Sure. The experience of playing on a console like the PS2 in 2005 has changed a lot in 20 years. But the PS5 is still still console. And shows no signs of that slowing down.

People can point to xbox and say they get it but I disagree. They've been losing marketshare for a decade and have incompetent leadership. I won't look at them as a game changer until they actually prove what they are trying to do is successful. And for the record I'm an Xbox fan. They're my preferred platform. They've just killed their brand and are run by morons.

 

[PurePlatinum]

It's not any time soon, I don't think.

I live in a major metropolitan area in the US, and my internet is not fast enough to make streaming games feel good. This is a big country what the hell else are people going to do?

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Lack of people means lack of software. Lack of software means lack of people.
A viciouc cycle.
And MS in their style do everything in their might to maintain this - so their programs to give free win/office for schools and students so people get into ecosystem from young age and stay in it.


We already see that's not the case.
High profile mobile games like Fortnite, Genshin etc have separate packages for PC/Consoles those utilize power of PC/Consoles.
Playing on big screen is more enjoyable and people like to have better picture. So "mobile" games intrude into this territory to have better competition to PC/console native titles.
It's a part of Sony 3rd party live service strategy, especially in Asia - provide value for money device that play gaas in high quality mode (gachastation), and it's work for them.


Unlikely
Streaming is a subscription that has a higher cost than owning a device. And it has a lot of inherenet problems those have limited solutions now.

The key to understanding my post was 'in the future'.

 

[Felessan]

The key to understanding my post was 'in the future'.

How many years/decades/centuries will it be?

 

[ArtHands]

I expect they will turn into small factor pc's or even integrated into future game ready tvs where Xbox PlayStation are simply an app that you install.

Certainly a great possibility, especially when Playstation fans has also asked Playstation to make a PC launcher too.

 

[drganon]

Certainly a great possibility, especially when Playstation fans has also asked Playstation to make a PC launcher too.

Only in your retarded dreams.

 

[clappedcheeks]

Money made on ecosystems. So walled garden ecosystems will always be a first choice and their own locked hardware is a part of it.

It doesn't matter how many times this gets stated it's always ignored. Sony and Nintendo want to keep their walled garden as it's the basis of their business. The only platform to benefit from the open model is Microsoft as they are the dominant operating system for gaming, and I don't believe either Nintendo or PlayStation are willing to help MS monopolise gaming by being an app on a windows desktop.

 

[Horseganador]

For just over a year now, there's been a lot of hype about consoles dying just because Xbox has fallen. Sorry, but no, Switch 2 has broken records at launch and PS5 is generating more profit than any other PS for Sony (and next year with GTAVI you'll have crazy sales).

 

[Shubh_C63]

Consoles will eventually die when it will be small enough to be fit into the TV itself coupled with direct cloud streaming.
Probably 20 years from now while VR becomes the next thing again with cordless headset and cloud streaming.

Except MP3 players, I am not remembering any larger than life hardware that became a thing of the past.

 

[diffusionx]

I'm surprised that, on a video game forum, some of you think laptops will have serious battery and computing limitations and shit in fucking 50 years from now

I'm not that tech savvy, but I think you are GREATLY underestimating where tech will be in 50 years

I think a cellphone, in 50 years from now, will be able to do stuff beyond what we can even imagine today. 50 years is an insane amount of time given the tech trajectory we are on

Trillions of dollars have been spent looking for the next battery breakthrough and it hasn't been found yet. We are at a point where future advancement is seriously hampered by the limitations of battery and manufacturing tech. Of course that's not to say that people won't figure it out but it's possible that the next 50 years don't look like the exponential growth of the last 50. Heck even the past 10 years didn't look like the prior 10.

 

[Felessan]

I think a cellphone, in 50 years from now, will be able to do stuff beyond what we can even imagine today. 50 years is an insane amount of time given the tech trajectory we are on

You should learn a little bit
Tech trajectory is not exponent, it S-shaped, and once it reach latter 20-10% it's progress essentially stops
And either there is a paradigm shift that open up a new technology and new S shape or tech will stuck in one place
And in case of electronics we already getting close to upper plateau.
It may take several years to get breakthrough, several decades (car engines) or even hundreds and thousands years (wheel)

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

You should learn a little bit
Tech trajectory is not exponent, it S-shaped, and once it reach latter 20-10% it's progress essentially stops
And either there is a paradigm shift that open up a new technology and new S shape or tech will stuck in one place
And in case of electronics we already getting close to upper plateau.
It may take several years to get breakthrough, several decades (car engines) or even hundreds and thousands years (wheel)

Moores Law already dropping off was addressed by me and many others in this thread. I pointed out that AI/machine learning are creating a new curve that would mimic early Moores Law.

Others raised other points. You should read a little bit:

Well, we are pushing against the limits of how small they can make the process nodes for CPUs/GPUs now. I think TSMC has chips planned at 1.4 nanometers but good lord is that going to be expensive. If we hit the wall at let's say .5 nanometer, and we couldn't make any chips more advanced than that, I could see that tech eventually coming down in cost to the point where everything uses .5nm chips and they're just dirt cheap.

But, I don't think there's any reason to believe we're going to get to a point where we can't continue to improve compute hardware. Just look at Nvidia going from obscure gaming nerd company to a household name in a few years. As long as there is a profit motive to keep improving hardware, and we have a capitalist society, we'll keep improving the chips.

I was just reading an article recently that researchers are looking at how they could maybe start stacking layers of transistors to form a 3D chip. The theory is if they can get the cooling under control and prevent cross-talk between the layers, it could open up a whole new pathway for many years to come. Moore's Law would be back in effect. Liquid cooling will probably be mandatory for those chips though, so the existing concept of an AIO cooler will have to be miniaturized and improved so we can put them in everything for really cheap.

Stuff like 3D chips, AI, machine learning, quantum processing, etc. are all creating new curves, that don't conform with the S-shape under Moores Law

these breakthroughs you refer to are closer to being reality than you think

if you think these are literally thousands of years away like you claim in your post, I think that is very very silly

 

[yogaflame]

I think after MS xbox losing this generations of console wars, that is what MS Xbox wants us to believe.

 

[Felessan]

Moores Law already dropping off was addressed by me and many others in this thread. I pointed out that AI/machine learning are creating a new curve that would mimic early Moores Law.

No it will not
The effect of AI on image quality is exaggerated and progress will rapidly fade away. If you think that we are in "early stages of AI" you are for some rude awakening.
AI ain't magic, there is a limit what it can do. And it ain't free, it still require computational power.
So, for now, until something really big and unforeseen now happens, there will be a huge gap between 300 tdp device and 15 tdp device.
And given that breakthrough technology takes 15-20+ years to get from fundamential research to market products (like AI tech popularized now is from 80's) - it's pointless to put hopes on "future" tech if it's not already explored and proven in science space.

Planning horizon of 20years and beyond just doesn't work as future way too unpredictable at such ranges.

 

[mayham2199]

but what is the point of a console if a budget laptop does the functional equivalent?

Because if the budget laptop can do what the console can do than the console will be even cheaper and can do what I need it to do which is play games. Since Sony can subsidize the console it will always be cheaper. Nintendo is in portable right now and no one is carrying around a laptop with them to play games. No one is switching to PC handhelds to play games when what they want is Nintnedo's games.

 

[jumpship]

A budget laptop able to run any game at max settings

Lets talk about this magical budget laptop first OP. As others have said, IF this technology was possible then a more powerful console at a cheaper price would also be possible. Just like today. It's all relative.

If you're thinking to a far distant future where all devices are just powerful enough to do anything a developer could wish for and always at max settings then it comes down to the most important part for any console. Great day one exclusive games.

 

[Blood Borne]

Until they achieve zero lag streaming gameplay, consoles will always be relevant.

 

[Ebrietas]

One could just as easily say PC gaming as we know it will dwindle away as smartphones continue to get more powerful and ubiquitous. For many people their iPhone has become their personal computer and they have no need for a laptop or desktop PC. I don't know the numbers but I'm willing to bet there are far more smartphones sold than PCs sold to consumers these days. The entire thesis of PC replacing consoles relies on the assumption that everyone already has a PC. Maybe in this future you envision that is no longer the case. Maybe we're all just living in VR headsets/glasses and AI does all the former "computer" jobs. Perhaps even the smartphone as we know it becomes superfluous or obsolete.

Regardless it is almost impossible to predict the tech landscape several decades out. But what we do know is that consoles have not only survived but thrived over the past several decades of tech advances and despite the existence of mobile and PC. So there is probably something more to it than just graphics capability.

 

[RickMasters]

Tricky one. On one hand I think we have seen the ceiling for console sales. But I put that on the tastes of younger generations of gamers. They play tablets and phones, laptops even. And they are are the young adult who companies target the most for sales.



Nintendo seems to escape it all with their whole hybrid approach. And their games are not visually cutting edge so they lend themselves well to that hybrid format anyway.


And then there is the economy……. Consoles used to be 299, low entry point affairs that parent buy for the kids. Nothing exists in that price point these days. So those people will probably lean more towards lap tops or tablets for their kids who let's be honest only really want to play fortnight and Roblox anyway. Because a switch now cost as much as a laptop. Xbox and PS are less likely to be xmas and bday present because people are not really trying to spend 500 plus bucks and then monthly sub on a high end console.



I think the console business will go through some changes. Unless they can bring back 300 dollar consoles and game prices back down to 40-60 bucks, for working class families, console gaming is gonna be come a niche enjoyed by people aged 30 upwards. Just those of us with the expendable income for it.


Personally I'm ready for MS to just do reference designs and let people like ASUS build our next Xbox's . The base model being some 500 dollar box and the 1200 dollar option being some box you order and spec how much ram or what GPU you want in it. True console hybrids running in that new OS. That certainly seems to be the future for Xbox consoles.


Nintendo will Nintendo.


Sony will probably release a base and a pro mode again, catering to PS fans.

I think next gen is gonna be a lot more fragmented.

The Xbox will be a hybrid PC/ console that will come in multiple specs, accompanied by a flagship handheld that will soon be followed by other manufactures variants because of that OS.

Switch is a hybrid console/ handheld. It's worked for them and is clearly going to be a feature of all Nintendo future hardware. Its a core part of their identity and saves them the expense of making two hardware platforms like they used to with the wii and the DS or the game cube and gameboy advance. They unified their business for a good reason.


Maybe PS6 will be the last static hardware design console.


PC will always be the PC. In all it's many wonderful forms. we will have NUC sized PCs, in console like form factors capable of matching any static design console at the same price point. We already have gaming handheld PCs and when they start making descent ones below 300 they will eat some of Nintendos food. The PC can be the entry level , the high end and anything in between, in any form factor, be it desktop, laptop, a hand held and yeah a PC can even be a console. That's where the next Xbox comes into play I think. PC gaming market is growing by the day. And it will become the standard over time among younger gamers via the hand helds and PC- consoles. Priced at whatever the parents can afford. There will be a model running that OS. And people can choose to have a GPU sub while, buying games from whatever store has the best deal in those games just like we do on PC right now.


I could be wrong about this but I think as PC gaming becomes more accessible and more popular among younger gamer, PCs in different form factors will be what they look for. On PC you can really play everything. As lng as you got some kind of hardware at some kind of price point.

 

[Parazels]

Trillions of dollars have been spent looking for the next battery breakthrough and it hasn't been found yet. We are at a point where future advancement is seriously hampered by the limitations of battery and manufacturing tech. Of course that's not to say that people won't figure it out but it's possible that the next 50 years don't look like the exponential growth of the last 50. Heck even the past 10 years didn't look like the prior 10.

I disagree. You have gotten used to many things that were non-existent just 15 years ago (electric cars, AI, smartphones, ARM based computers etc).

 

[Parazels]

And then there is the economy……. Consoles used to be 299, low entry point affairs that parent buy for the kids. Nothing exists in that price point these days.

It has been calculated many times that consoles and games are not getting more expensive considering inflation.
Those Saturns and NESes would cost $500-600 if converted to the modern prices.

 

[RickMasters]

It has been calculated many times that consoles and games are not getting more expensive considering inflation.
Those Saturns and NESes would cost $500-600 if converted to the modern prices.

You are missing the point. People are less able to afford these things these days. People are paying high rent and taxes. And many are single parents ( way. Ire than their used ti be) in speaking to the social and financial situations of people. They are get early less able to spend so much these days. I was 18 years old buying a tonne of Japanese import games for my Saturn and PS1 back in the day and could still find the money to buy and insure my first car. You speak of inflation and ignore the fact that people could get the wages in an average job to afford these non-essential things back in the 90s and early 2000s. There's a reason people are not going places like night clubs so much anymore. Because things cost more now than ever and peoples wages are not matching that cost. How important do you think 500 dollar gaming consoles are to people these days? The console industry won't survive on 1000 dollar 'pro' consoles…600 plus dollar base consoles . There ain't enough people who can afford that. We are the lucky ones. My ally was pretty expensive by handheld game standards. I doubt they will be a common site. I know people that want PS5 pro but literally cannot afford it. I couldn't imagine any of them looking at my ROG as anything other than a very expensive toy and a waste of money as much as I live the thing. And I can see their point. In a world where things cost more these things are expensive and certainly more so than they used to be. Especially if your expendable income mostly is spent on your kids for example….

 

[Orbital2060]

Some related writing on this topic

The Video Game Industry as We Knew It Is Over. Something Unsavory Is Taking Its Place.

Enjoy the new Nintendo console while it lasts. We may not get another one.

slate.com

The video game industry loves to tout figures: record-breaking sales numbers, astonishing revenue growth, dazzling quantities of concurrent players. It makes sense that the people who make and play games love numbers: They're proof that someone is winning.

We have a new incredible number from the world of video games: In spite of an alarming price tag, it took only four days for the Nintendo Switch 2 to become the fastest-selling home video game console of all time, with 3.5 million units sold over the weekend following its June 5 release. This is tremendous business, enough for investors to take note and consider Nintendo a safe haven in a moment of extreme economic volatility. This kind of success is typically a point of pride to proponents of the video game industry, hard data proving the medium's significance to any doubters. The trouble is that the success of the Nintendo Switch 2 is likely not an indication of more boom years to come, but the last bit of open road before a steep cliff.

The casual observer has no way of knowing this, but the video game industry as we know it is effectively over. This might sound confusing—after all, don't games still make huge amounts of money? Yes, they do. But the nature of that money, or how it's made, has never been more different. The old model—the sort exemplified by the Nintendo Switch 2, where someone purchases a console with the expectation that they'll be able to buy and play a steady cadence of interesting and varied games for it over the better part of a decade—is evaporating. Instead, something more amorphous and extractive has taken its place.

The new normal of gaming is now shaped by the likes of Fortnite or Roblox, online offerings that are less games than platforms for users to make their own content or for other companies to advertise their wares. For every blockbuster film like James Gunn's Superman, there is a corresponding Fortnitepromotion, and it's not always clear who pays for it, and how much. Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, does not disclose the terms of its brand deals, but the ceiling for them appears to be astronomical. In 2024, Disney acquired a $1.5 billion stake in Epic to deepen a partnership that already saw Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney characters appear in the game. That's enough money to fund several video games of Disney's own, and it's telling that Disney found Fortnite a better place to spend its money.

The new normal of gaming is now shaped by the likes of Fortnite or Roblox, online offerings that are less games than platforms for users to make their own content or for other companies to advertise their wares. For every blockbuster film like James Gunn's Superman, there is a corresponding Fortnitepromotion, and it's not always clear who pays for it, and how much. Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, does not disclose the terms of its brand deals, but the ceiling for them appears to be astronomical. In 2024, Disney acquired a $1.5 billion stake in Epic to deepen a partnership that already saw Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney characters appear in the game. That's enough money to fund several video games of Disney's own, and it's telling that Disney found Fortnite a better place to spend its money.

In short, the video game industry is in the same sort of trouble that every industry is in, as private equityand inadequate regulation leave every sector of the U.S. economy in shambles. There's still just enough gas in the tank for Sony and Microsoft to keep making big, flashy games, but the ecosystem around them is dead. That creates enormous pressure to make sure that the few games that do get released are nothing less than massive hits—or to become something else entirely. This is how we get Microsoft's investment in becoming the Netflix of games—which, as streaming companies competing with Netflix are learning, is merely a race to become the biggest loss leader—taking its $599 Xbox and trying to remake it into a lifestyle brand, building out a service for playing video games over the internet on devices you watch to stream video, backed by a subscription catalog. Meanwhile, Sony is taking a different approach: Its ambitions lie in becoming gaming's version of HBO, as exemplified by the acclaimed television adaptation of its most acclaimed franchise, The Last of Us.

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a playing-card business, bolstered by the fondness that gangsters had for card parlors as one of many loopholes in Japan's late-19th-century gambling ban. When the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived in the United States in 1985, nearly a century after the company's founding, it marked a new beginning for video games following a disastrous 1983 industry crash. Forty years later, the game industry that we knew is no more. Competitors have cycled in and out; bitter rivals are now eager partners. It's fitting that Nintendo has released what may very well be the last video game console of its kind at this moment. It's made for a neat little bookend for this era of video games: a grand opening, and a grand closing.

More at the link

 

[Felessan]

I disagree. You have gotten used to many things that were non-existent just 15 years ago (electric cars, AI, smartphones, ARM based computers etc).

And some things stays the same - like internal combustion engines for almost hundreds years or wheel for 6500 years
There is always progress, just not necessary in the field you want it

There's still just enough gas in the tank for Sony and Microsoft to keep making big, flashy games, but the ecosystem around them is dead.

Is he know nothing or just braindead?
Sony benefits *massively* from Fortnite, Playstation is a platform through which the most Fortnite revenue go. And it's one of the goals of Sony - to make PlayStation a platform to go for f2p games, best value for money device to play them. If they do, and for now they are quite successful in claiming this position - they don't need to care about those "big games blablabla", they will just get 30% cut from tens or even hundreds of billions mtx money

 

[laynelane]

And some things stays the same - like internal combustion engines for almost hundreds years or wheel for 6500 years
There is always progress, just not necessary in the field you want it


Is he know nothing or just braindead?
Sony benefits *massively* from Fortnite, Playstation is a platform through which the most Fortnite revenue go. And it's one of the goals of Sony - to make PlayStation a platform to go for f2p games, best value for money device to play them. If they do, and for now they are quite successful in claiming this position - they don't need to care about those "big games blablabla", they will just get 30% cut from tens or even hundreds of billions mtx money

I skimmed the article, but it was apparent the author is dooming. In the quote you provided, he focuses solely on a dead "ecosystem" which he clearly doesn't understand and also, like many who just can't help themselves nowadays, puts MS and Sony in the exact same situation. He also has noticeable difficulty understanding the difference between Hollywood and gaming.

In short, the video game industry is in the same sort of trouble that every industry is in, as private equity and inadequate regulation leave every sector of the U.S. economy in shambles.

Lastly, he's applying his political and socioeconomic views whether they fit or not - hence the application of the US economy to global video game brands.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

The legality of closed ecosystems that is being contested in multiple areas will be the deciding factor not hardware for the near future. Down the road, though streaming will be the future. I just cant see it otherwise for mainstream usage.

 

[Danny22]

Not in the current trajectory. Not unless something massive happens. And I suspect AI upscaling will be that massive thing. Once you can use it to play photorealistic games on the cheapest devices possible, perhaps. But that's not happening until the next 2 decades, coincidentally when the PS9 should launch

 

[PlayStaytion]

No, our great great great great grand children will miss the snes, ps2, 360, Core 2 Extreme oced running Crysis the way it should be.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I don't think so, not for a while, I don't think PC will ever kill consoles, cloud is the only thing that might get it done but it's hard.

Consoles are cheap, subsidized products that offer a convenient way in to gamers. And companies like Sony and Nintendo won't give up their wall garden and the juicy 30% take on sales unless they are forced to, by the public or by the law.

Unless PC becomes cheap, consoles will thrive, we only reason we even discuss such possibility today is because Xbox is bursting in flames, and they are trying hard to cope by saying that their failure is somehow the market fault.

 

[David B]

I think that Nintendo will make 2 or 3 more consoles and than team with a Linux team like Ubuntu or Mint and release there games on there and create there own kind of store front on there. Sony might go to PS7 and than release a UNIX OS for use on computers and say you must buy this for access to our content, OS costs anywhere from $100 to $300. Buy online, download to USB drive or SD or SDXC card and install on your computer. I think it's the way of the future. But in other ways Sony may release computers of there own again and say if you want to continue using our PlayStation games than you must buy our newest Sony computers.

 

[Humdinger]

If PCs ever become as easy, idiot-proof, and plug-and-play as consoles are, then yeah, consoles might become obsolete. PC would have duplicated the main selling point of a console, which is simplicity. However, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[EverydayBeast]

No consoles would lead to bitterness, streaming only changed movies, dvd, tv shows, consoles are destined for new improvements, headlines like "cloud gaming is killing consoles" has corrupted Neogaf posters, pc gamers are disattatched from gaming dealing with emails, trying to torrent, throwing fits in discord chats, what has stream done in the last 10 years? They just step on the necks of losers who buy games and don't play them. Consoles are positioned for the future, and forever.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

No consoles would lead to bitterness, streaming only changed movies, dvd, tv shows, consoles are destined for new improvements, headlines like "cloud gaming is killing consoles" has corrupted Neogaf posters, pc gamers are disattatched from gaming dealing with emails, trying to torrent, throwing fits in discord chats, what has stream done in the last 10 years? They just step on the necks of losers who buy games and don't play them. Consoles are positioned for the future, and forever.

I appreciate the attempt at thought, looks like some real effort was put into it.

 

[ArtHands]

I don't think so, not for a while, I don't think PC will ever kill consoles, cloud is the only thing that might get it done but it's hard.

Consoles are cheap, subsidized products that offer a convenient way in to gamers. And companies like Sony and Nintendo won't give up their wall garden and the juicy 30% take on sales unless they are forced to, by the public or by the law.

Unless PC becomes cheap, consoles will thrive, we only reason we even discuss such possibility today is because Xbox is bursting in flames, and they are trying hard to cope by saying that their failure is somehow the market fault.

It will be a multi-prong attacks from PC, mobile, cloud, and other new stuffs in the coming future.

There is a reason why "consoles" are evolving away to include hybrid portables while putting the apples onto PC platform, to cope with the changing landscape

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

How many years/decades/centuries will it be?

Oh millions. Obviously. It could even occur at a point in which humanity has ceased to exist.

I mean, that's clearly what you got from my post. Right?

 

[TGO]

As long as theres a gaming market someone will want a piece of it on their terms.
Seen most don't understand why those multi billion corporations make consoles.

 

[Felessan]

Oh millions. Obviously. It could even occur at a point in which humanity has ceased to exist.

I mean, that's clearly what you got from my post. Right?

Yes, exactly
Yours is just another like OP - "I am not in tech field(=know nothing about subject), but let fantasies run wild"

 

[Generic]

I hope lag-free cloud gaming becomes a thing because paying $500 for a box sucks.