KBG29 said:
We'll have to see, UWA was the whole reason Microsoft gave away Windows 10 for free. They need to get eveyone with Windows devices on the same page, and make it so UWA is the only real choice when it comes to developing app for the PC enviornemnt. As for PS Now, I don't see that working out well either. If they do a PS Phone it has to be able to run PS4 software natively. This should be possible in a phone form factor with 7nm fabrication. So, I don't expect a PS Phone any sooner than 2019. |
So you're thinking of Sony's hypothetical long game here. That's more interesting than theorizing on a Vita 2.
It's hard to imagine a future in which the Playstation is no longer a console box, just as it is very easy to imagine the Playstation 5 as being an upgraded $399 PS4 Pro with a new operating system in 2019.
Much of how the 9th console generation will develop, will have to do with the market reception of the Switch. And it should be clear that Nintendo is kicking off the 9th gen with the Switch, all arguments about specs determing generation aside (which I will assert is false). It could be a failure, which would mean terrible things for Nintendo in the market as this time both the 3DS and Wii U portable and console markets are being placed into the same basket, leaving them with no leg to prop up the other.
It could be received with the same level of enthusiasm as the Nvidia Shield (medicre), but the key distinction is Nintendo is a software company with its own top of the industry level IPs; the Shield simply played other developer's content.
And of course, it could be received so well that we see a run on hardware not seen since the Wii, outstripping supply, although it's more or less irrefutable in hindsight that Wii demand was propped up by market demographics that were one and done. They bought it for Wii Sports. Some stuck around for Wii Fit, and that was the end of their video game console experience as evidenced by the cliff like drop off of Wii U buyers.
In the case of the later, Sony could potentially follow suit and base the future Playstation environment on portable technology as it continues to mature to the degree that it is somewhat competitive with desktop power ICs, which reflects existing trends in the semiconductor industry towards lower power consumption rather than increased computational capacity. Moore's Law is running out of steam.
At any rate, if that hypothetical scenario turns true for Sony, the future of Playstation will look more like the Nintendo Switch than another set top box console. We wouldn't be seeing a PSP Phone or PS Vita 2 (personally, I think the Vita name will be killed off simply because the PSV underperformed and one doesn't continue to brand build off a more or less commercially failed product) so much as a Playstation 5 that only exists as a hybrid/portable unit.
I still don't see the phone and data network service in the future, but we'll see; we are talking about years from now. Potentially, all electronic devices will be network capable in the future, not just gaming devices.
