The future of consoles...

[el_gallo]

I think consoles will not die if they take the Wii U approach and I think Nintendo has made the right choice. The Wii U is set up for current price points, repurposes much of your prior purchases for their last console and allows you to stream everything you want to stream to your television and play some certain games on the gamepad in the event someone else needs the television. It can be a first screen or a second screen. It is well balanced and the company isn't going to go broke, go away or bug you with ads or yearly fees.

If the lead time on top tier games is currently 2 years and the costs now are $60+ million dollars, what will it be for the next generation and what sort of revenue and costs will be necessary to justify and recoup them? Given all the competition for the television set and eyeballs out there, any additional costs probably can't be justified.

It isn't just "hardcore" vs "casual" gamers out there. Games like Call of Duty have become so expensive that they amount to a hobby themselves rather than just a game people play. You can't support an entire industry on hobbyists. You can support one game, but not an industry.

It's a diminishing return. It is more money coming from fewer people already and now they will have to double down on that for the next generation? How many people want to pay $60 for CODBO2 and then $50 for a "Season Pass" and see those costs go UP for the next generation? They have to go up because everything will be new, require new tools, require more people to generate ever more detailed content, etc.

Will people really be willing to spend $500 on a unprofitable console so they can try to fill it up with $80 games requiring $60 passes and in some instances spend an extra $60+ a year just to go online? (That might go up too.)

I don't think this will happen or if it does, I don't think it will survive as a model because someone will start off with losses that aren't recouped.