7th February 2024, 12:13 PM
From the looks of things that really is where we're going, and in terms of corporate consolidation that would leave the market entirely to Sony and Nintendo. I wouldn't say Sony are the "worst in the industry", at least not appreciably so though. I mean... how much competition is there? The OUYA? As I've discussed before, the days when any decently sized toy or computer hardware company could just spit out a console are behind us. Steam, NVidia, and the like are instead going the route of "Consolized" PCs, mainly aping the Switch's base design.
While I can easily see MS going that route too, either as a Switch style machine or a fixed spec "consolized" PC (complete with branding we might see on games indicating full compatibility with that particular consolized PC (and of course PCs in general), I really do think the era of bespoke locked-down consoles is dwindling bit by bit. Sony's also releasing their games on PC these days, though differently than MS are. They unfortunately don't do same-day releases instead spacing them out a year or so after the console version, but they DO sell them on more stores than Steam by bringing their games to DRM-less stores like GOG.
I am also very eager to cut down the number of yearly online services I'm paying for. On PC, I don't have a pay a dime to play MS's games online, and that's the expecation driven by, again, Steam.
I think at this point the decision has already been made though, one way or the other. Keep in mind that MS has already sacked significant chunks of their hardware production departments and already ceded their PC accessory division entirely (though they did at least decide to license out the designs for some of their more popular products so third parties can reproduce them).
I'm no fan of consolidation, but let's face facts here, MS will be a VERY powerful 3rd party developer, dwarfing EA with only Embracer Group as a real peer. They have always been primarily about software, and with their dominance of the main OS almost everyone uses on their PCs, your PC was practically already a "Microsoft console". They have nothing to lose at this point by making this decision.
Sony however will be in a prime position to do what Microsoft threatened to do before the release of the XBox One, and that's worrying. MS only cancelled that decision to force disc based games to require an always-online connection because of how thoroughly Sony put them in their place by NOT embracing that strategy. They "won" that E3 in a single devastating moment when they explained how to "loan a game to a friend" by just handing a disc from one employee to the other. But, I'm under no illusion that makes Sony "good". They're giant corporations. They're both greed incarnate, and Sony is likely even now considering doing the very thing they mocked MS for trying the moment MS can't counter their move. But... Nintendo still can, at least. And Nintendo is going to Nintendo. They'll do whatever the heck they feel like regardless of what MS and Sony are doing, after all.
While I can easily see MS going that route too, either as a Switch style machine or a fixed spec "consolized" PC (complete with branding we might see on games indicating full compatibility with that particular consolized PC (and of course PCs in general), I really do think the era of bespoke locked-down consoles is dwindling bit by bit. Sony's also releasing their games on PC these days, though differently than MS are. They unfortunately don't do same-day releases instead spacing them out a year or so after the console version, but they DO sell them on more stores than Steam by bringing their games to DRM-less stores like GOG.
I am also very eager to cut down the number of yearly online services I'm paying for. On PC, I don't have a pay a dime to play MS's games online, and that's the expecation driven by, again, Steam.
I think at this point the decision has already been made though, one way or the other. Keep in mind that MS has already sacked significant chunks of their hardware production departments and already ceded their PC accessory division entirely (though they did at least decide to license out the designs for some of their more popular products so third parties can reproduce them).
I'm no fan of consolidation, but let's face facts here, MS will be a VERY powerful 3rd party developer, dwarfing EA with only Embracer Group as a real peer. They have always been primarily about software, and with their dominance of the main OS almost everyone uses on their PCs, your PC was practically already a "Microsoft console". They have nothing to lose at this point by making this decision.
Sony however will be in a prime position to do what Microsoft threatened to do before the release of the XBox One, and that's worrying. MS only cancelled that decision to force disc based games to require an always-online connection because of how thoroughly Sony put them in their place by NOT embracing that strategy. They "won" that E3 in a single devastating moment when they explained how to "loan a game to a friend" by just handing a disc from one employee to the other. But, I'm under no illusion that makes Sony "good". They're giant corporations. They're both greed incarnate, and Sony is likely even now considering doing the very thing they mocked MS for trying the moment MS can't counter their move. But... Nintendo still can, at least. And Nintendo is going to Nintendo. They'll do whatever the heck they feel like regardless of what MS and Sony are doing, after all.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)