Amazon Fire TV announced -game, movie streaming hardware

[NewGuy]

I might be, and probably am, in the minority here, but I believe that AppleTV, Chromecast, AmazonFireTV will do to consoles what tablets and phones have done to dedicated game machines.

- I fully expect AppleTV 4 to be announced and released this year with specs similar to Fire TV. I expect an official Apple Game controller as well
- I expect Chromecast 2 to be announced and released this year with a small media controller (like AppleTV/FireTV) and similar specs to the rest. I expect game support and a game controller to be unveiled as well
- Roku is the small player on this field, its only advantage is being 1st to market. It'll either get acquired by one of the bigger ones or made obsolete
- Chromecast/AppleTV/FireTV right now are to consoles what iphone/android were to DS/GBA/PSP circa 2008, that is, they were there, had a market, but weren't really a problem. Fast forward to today and anyone sane realizes how disruptive iOS/Android phones and tablets have been to dedicated portable game machines and they will be more so once better tablet/phone controllers become more ubiquitous. Likewise set top boxes are not very strong in gaming now, chromecast doesn't support it, apple's support is still in its infancy, and amazon is starting off with lots of game support.
- Steam client support for any of these set top boxes (or all 3) would be disruptive and, quite possibly, affect dedicated consoles sales significantly. Steam Controller support could also work with these set top boxes. Steam OS and controller are open source and Gabe would do well to have Steam client in these set top boxes and make Steam more ubiquitous. The question though, is if they can reach a deal with Google/Apple/Amazon to make it happen. Steam probably makes 30% of game sales from Steam. Google/Amazon/Apple would want a piece of that if sales were generated from their box. It's a gamble for Valve to split that 15/15 each, but it would mean that Steam would be pretty much everywhere and they would get much more revenue and profit because of that. This does not mean SteamBox can't or won't launch, but it would be a way for Valve to reach a much broader audience that they otherwise would not reach.
- Games can be cross platform between iOS and android right now. This is huge and something lots of people want. The question is will mainline COD, GTA, Battlefield, MH, etc start appearing on iOS/Android day and date with the other versions? For the next year or two, I say no, but who knows after that?
- MS is in the best position to have a set top box to compete. Sony is in good position as well, but I can't help but feel that VitaTV time has passed and will bomb. Too much competition right now and both would have their work really cut out for them. Nintendo, as far as we know, is not prepared
- Sony wants PS Now to be ubiquitous and will be on android and iOS. I think that's their way to prepare for this, but it might help kill the Playstation console business as we know it today. I think that's pretty smart of them though, to at least be prepared and possibly become the netflix of gaming
- I always keep in mind that MS entered the console business to prevent Sony from completely taking over the living room. The company that takes the majority share of the living room business in the next 10-15 years is gonna make some major dough. I know this, you know this, and you better believe these big companies know this as well. Besides set top boxes there are smart tvs to keep in mind as well. Sony is preparing for this, MS has the money to try to get themselves in there as well, but they won't be able to bully google/apple/amazon like they did Sony.


I probably am completely wrong, and I expect Ouya and Roku to fade out and die.
With that said, the PS4/XBO, and to a lesser extent, WiiU, are okay for now. These devices are not even as powerful as the WiiU, but IIRC phones are getting to PS3/360 level now. Most phones/tablets nowadays have 2GBs and Xperia Z2 has 3GBs DDR3 RAM. Also most are quad core CPUs and most mobile GPUs now are more powerful than the Vita GPU. I think these will affect home consoles the way tablets/phones affect PSP/DS successors. This is also what the fabled Nintendo hybrid home/portable console is supposed to do. Play GTAVI at home, using a controller, take it on the go on your tablet and on your phone (where you can use buttons/analog sticks) and continue your progress. When you get back home, continue playing on your big screen tv.

Sorry about the rambling, just my thoughts.

TLDR: Consoles will have stiff competition in the next few years and will suffer like dedicated portable handhelds have suffered.