| Ka-pi96 said: Never. Anyone thinking that people will just stream games instead is just wrong. First off, why aren't those people just going PC only and streaming/downloading there already? Because they don't want to. Secondly, internet technology just isn't that good in a lot of places. If Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all went to streaming devices someone else would just come along and make a console instead. There is definitely demand for it in western Europe and the US. But also the emerging markets in eastern Europe, South America and parts of Asia. There is no way countries like those could ever go to streaming only anytime soon, probably not this century. So by going streaming only they would be cutting themselves off from most of the world, not really good business sense there. Finally... look at the music industry... have downloads/streaming killed off physical media there? Not even close. CD sales have decling a bit but they are still at a very high level and are stablising, while older physical media such as Vinyl have actually increased in sales over the last few years. There is plenty of demand for physical content in the music industry, which got into downloads and stuff way before the gaming industry did, so that demand will stay in the gaming industry as well. |
Wow, Never is a long time. Let's assume that the remote village or small town is not part of the market they are going after today anyway. Heck, China has over a billion people and only 5% can even afford to buy a console, let alone pay for a streaming service. So, you thought that because the # of people that will have good enough internet will stop things? Areas with limited or no internet that have any substantial amount of gamers that can afford to buy consoles or pay for streaming are becoming less and less every day. Remote areas with no internet either have too few people to bring it there or people too poor to buy a console anyway. Areas that have people that can afford consoles/streaming and big enough populations will have interenet access within the next 10-15 years. As the poorest areas population demands it, internet will make it there.
You can't assume that every person on erth is a realistic target audience for a console. It just isn't feasible. So, when the decision of whether to make another console is made by Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft, they aren't tabulating the villagers in the remote location and trying to figure out if they will have internet or power for that matter. Like it or not, those people are just removed from the equation. Companies design products for the mass audience of POTENTIAL BUYERS.
Just my opinion.
It is near the end of the end....
