| noname2200 said: That is untenable. The videogame component of a multimedia box gobbles up a large amount of resources. If videogames are just a focus, one of umpteen different ones, then why wouldn't the majority of people interested in multimedia simply revert to the built-in functions of their TV, or purchase a much cheaper boxtop? Much of the rest of your post even concedes this. Your iTV example requires enough juice under the hood to be a full-fledged game console. Third party AAA games can and will run off the thing. Of course gamers will buy this thing...because it has the games they want to play. Of course, the price of this iTV is going to be huge, because of the need to run these AAA games. So people who aren't really interested in gaming, but who want the multimedia features, can just stick to their smart TV/wi-fi added Blu-Ray/whatever much cheaper alternative they prefer. This wouldn't exactly be a case of "disruption" per se, but if the OS is really the big draw, with gaming being secondary-at-best, the end result will look remarkably similar. Do you see what happened here? |
Yes there are those who will buy the cheaper set-top boxes. I actually stated that specifically. They may actually never buy any of the boxes and just utilize what comes in their future TV or bluray player. But, they are not the market these companies are focusing on.
Likewise, there are those who only buy one companies first party titles and it won't matter what that box has, they'll still buy it and maybe something else as well.
Then there are those who like to game and will buy the version that has the best value in games and smart OS features. This is the largest single segment of gamers and what all three really want to reach. This is the group that will never choose a console that doesn't have these smart OS features because they also want those features and at least one console is guaranteed 100% to have them. (MS)
Its not about disruption but about the normal path of the markets. They are colliding for better or worse. They have been moving this way for the past two generations. They are the reason MS entered gaming in the first place.
My main point is that next-gen gaming must have smart OS otherwise it will lose in the long run. That OS will define it as much as the game library. It will not be just games that are the focus but all content.
