EA says PS3/Wii/Xbox 360 will soon be obsolete, why EA’s wrong
By Danny Mendez
Today I came across a very, very funny article in which Gerhard Florin, a senior executive at Electronic Arts, said game consoles as a platform will soon become obsolete. This is why that will never happen.
When I say “that will never happen,” I mean it will never happen unless we discover some crazy new technologies that revolutionize the way we game.
With that said, Florin had this to say regarding the future state of gaming consoles in a recent BBC piece:
We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible … We’re platform agnostic and we definitely don’t want to have one platform which is a walled garden … I am not sure how long we will have dedicated consoles - but we could be talking up to 15 years.
Consoles will never become obsolete because PC gaming is way too expensive, and traditional controllers do not work as well as their console counterparts. If you want to have a relatively good gaming experience on a PC, you have to spend about three or four times what you would spend on a console. Even worse, after maxing out your PC with all the latest and greatest tech, guess what? You have to do it all over again a year and a half later.
Consoles, on the other hand, will give you a great gaming experience for $500 or less and that experience only gets better over the next five to ten years.
What about those that prefer controllers over the keyboard and mouse experience? Controllers in the PC world are a novelty, and the only way you can have great gaming experience with most games is to give-in and use your favorite mouse and keyboard combo. Granted, there are games like flight simulators that work with joysticks and such, but they are scarce.
The EA boss then suggested that games will eventually be downloaded and played over cheap, open (in terms of development), server-based set-top boxes. Why will that never happen?
For two reasons, which cater to both the console companies and the general public: Console creators want to make money, and they do so by producing successful consoles that in turn sell very profitable games, accessories, and downloadable content such as games, videos, extras, etc. The general public would also avoid a cheap, server-based set-top box because we’re a stubborn bunch, and we like things the way they are. Heck, it takes government action to get the mass public to switch to digital TVs as opposed to our beloved analog sets.
EA, as a developer, would love everyone to switch to PC gaming or perhaps have their open platform idea to take off, but they’re dreaming. It’s much easier to develop for one platform, but it just doesn’t work. It’s like Linux devs asking Apple to stop developing Mac OSX because they want everything to work over a single, open platform. And getting Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft to stop producing consoles would take a massive, massive effort over a long period of time, but hey, bribes always work, right?
Besides, who would choose a cheap, generic set-top box over a the Playstation 4 or Xbox 720? Hah!
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October 19th, 2007
They’ve been talking about this for a while now. The thing people don’t understand though is that consoles aren’t going anywhere, developers would just like to have a console with standard hardware. That means Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo would have to get together and come up with one platform.
It’s just like there are a lot of companies that make pc’s…… Only one Mac, though.
October 19th, 2007
Author completely misses the point. EA exec is merly predicting a standard platform. This can take many forms including a variety of hardware platforms, but a common API, like the Java platform today.
October 19th, 2007
I think you may be missing the point here. A standardized game platform would look more like the DVD standard than one company making every box. Some of them aren’t cheap, even still. Some are. If the game companies had the clout (and I imagine it would only take the top two, maybe three, companies) to put together a standard and market it with, say, Dell making the boxes Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would all make their versions of the open platform box too. And there would still be a decent pricing difference and people would still buy high end boxes on the ’standard’. It’s a longshot, I’ll admit that, but I think they could pull it off.
October 19th, 2007
@kevin @Anthony
Florin is saying the death of consoles. I firmly believe this is not the best interest for gaming. Because a good gaming experience is combination of unique hardware and software design. To do this, it needs focus. Open source is anything but focus.
During the 90s, Intel CEO Andrew Grove at the high of PC said the same thing about PC is going to take over console. He was wrong. Consoles maker are driving high still now. PS1 sold more than consumer computers during 90s then PS2 continues.
I firmly believe is other way around. Console is going to take over PC and Digital setbox because the knowledge require to make a successful gaming platform is rare, it has process “the fun factor”. Everyone can make a setbox or PC nowadays. Atari did it but only last for few years. Nintendo and Sony last more than a decade.
October 20th, 2007
Danny Mendez - you show how very unable you are to read.
“I am not sure how long we will have dedicated consoles - but we could be talking up to 15 years.”
The word DEDICATED CONSOLES is referring to the difference in manufacture of consoles. Rather than a platform standard. Your assumption and thus argument are all totally pointless because EA want a standardised platform - and yes that IS happening whether you like it or not Danny.
Both MS and Nintendo are building Cell based platforms for their next iteration:
http://www.ps3bits.net/website1/content/view/38/2/
So agnostic platforms rather than DEDICATED platforms are already on their way.. EA is right.
October 20th, 2007
Ah, I misunderstood his vision then. I think you’re right, the console is definately not going away soon.
October 20th, 2007
If microsoft has its way it could kill the console. Every good selling game on the Xbox can be played better on a PC. The PC is easier to program for because the base programming has remained the same for 20 years. Only the graphics has changed. The consoles on the other hand require a massive investment everytime. It is much easier to port a game to a PC from the 360 then it is to port it to a PS3. If the major console game makers decide to shift to 360 then shift to the PC it would be over. Think about it, the 360 controller has been duplicated by microsoft for PC use. Microsoft is moving live to the PC. Sony sold its cell hardware to Toshiba, Toshiba and microsoft are in bed together with HD-DVD. Every PC sold is another copy of Vista sold. The wii controller can be used on the PC because it’s bluetooth. See how this is going?
October 20th, 2007
@Don
“The fun factor”, is PC really fun? This is of course subjective. I personally use my PC only for research, internet and work. My Playstation for games and fun.
Console focus just games, at least Nintendo still do. If the Wii control port it to PC, it will just be another peripheral, forgotten after one or two games.
M$’s interest is not in console, is PC. Why M$ create Xbox? It aims to transfer console gamers to PC. The growth of console market is bad news for M$. PC platform desperately need games to justify it thousand dollar price tag. One less PC sold, is one lost revenue for M$. On the other hand, Wii cost 250 US, give gamers more fun.
EA and M$ has the same interest in PC gaming. In the console world dominate by Nintendo. Companies like EA will always struggle. Game developers can’t just bet on licenses and sequels. They have to create innovative fun games and that scare shit out of their pants *v*
October 26th, 2007
I am joining the pathos of other comments here. I too believe that the author of this article has misunderstood the idea conveyed by Gerhard Florin of EA.
It took years and billions of dollars to build the gaming console market and the whole industry and how can you imagine it simply disappearing.
No, no and again no. The gaming consoles won’t disappear anywhere. However, as with everything, there will be changes and evolution and that’s what EA is talking about.
By building a standard platform, we, consumers, will benefit.
October 28th, 2007
we don’t have to think about a single, standard game platform for a long time.
Microsoft Nintendo and Sony are all well into development with 3rd-generation Xbox, Wii HD and PlayStation4 which will serve as the main consoles for most of the next decade. I don’t see Microsoft stopping with an 3rd Xbox either, they’ll do an Xbox4 and Nintendo will certainly have a console beyond Wii HD. I don’t know about Sony though. maybe Sony and EA will try a joint-console after PS4. but that will still mean competing consoles. there’s probably never going to be a single game console in our lifetimes.