KBG29 said:
You know, people told me the same exact thing about how they would never give up their physical compass, or their dedicated navigation system, or their handheld for one of those iPhone things. That is why I used those examples. I could go on for pages on people I directly know and stories from friends and family, about how so and so said they would never own or never do (Insert Activity) on a smartphone. Now everyone I know has a smartphone, and where are those other devices? The Attic, the Basement, the landfill, one things for sure, they sure as shit arn't being used. If you look back, PS4/XBO launched just after Smartphones really started to take off. When these two consoles launched I knew many people who did not have a smartphone. 5 years later, everyone of those people have a smartphone. When PS5 and XBO launch in 2019, 2020, or whenever, iOS and Android are going to be much stronger and more engrained than they where in 2013. Why do you think Google said to be making a strong push for gaming in the coming years? It ain't for shits and giggles. They want that royalty money that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are getting from 3rd party games. If they offer a box that is competitve with PS5/XB4/NSW or NSW2, and allow every single game to be played on that Box and you Android Phone, you don't think Android fans are going to make the jump from XB/PS/Nin to Android? We arn't even talking touch controls here anymore. This would be a box with PS5/XB4 power, and a standard Bluetooth gamepad, which could also be tethered to your Android device. $59.99 and you can play your games on you Android Phone on the go, and in 4K/60 at home. You don't think that is a possability? You don't think Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo should be fully ready to counter this attack on their turf? The writing is on the wall. If Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft fail to act, just like Sony and Nintendo did with the Handheld market, then consoles as we know them will die just as fast as Handhelds did. I will fight to the very end for all three of these companies, if they put up a fight, thanks to all of the amazing times they have delivered to me in the past 30 years. But, if they fail to put up a fight, and Google or Apple come out with a Handheld Form Factor Mobile device and a Home Console line, with a unified library, and they fail to match them, I am going to have to drop support for these companies. That comes from someone with a passion for these companies and their games. Most people I know couldn't care less whether they play on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS. Switching from their current home console to any other would be no issue whatsoever. |
It's amazing that whenever you're trying to weave a narrative you always apparently know people that are either naysayers or true believers that help support your case. Can you just drop with the obviously ridiculous anecdotes? Once again, you know people that have given up their compass for a cell phone? They given up a non-battery operated reliable, critical navigation device, or a digital, long-battery life device that uses satellites and/or the earth's magnetic pole for a battery-operate device that depends on cell reception it may not have, and depends on software that may not be accurate? I can't fathom that anyone believes you 99.9% of the time you claim to know people that fit your narrative. They're so obviously outlandish.
In 2013, when the PS4/X1 launched, was the time of the Apple 5S, and Samsung Galaxy S4. Apple was selling 150 million iPhones alone in 2013. You're delusional if you think smartphones were not firmly established at that time.Many smartphone owners were on their second or third smartphone by then. I literally knew people who worked at Walmart that bought the previous year's iPhone 5 for like $100 on a two year plan when the 5S launched. The smartphone market really started to take off in 2010/2011, when smartphones quadrupled over that period. But that's years before the PS4/X1 came out. So what are you talking about? We can look this shit up. We don't have to take your word for it, and once again, your word is completely wrong.
And you think google is concerned with the few dollars Sony/MS/Nintendo get per game copy sold? Really? Considering how hard those companies have to work for it? Wouldn't it be far easier just keep to taking a higher margin off of Android store sales and just encourage manufacturers to keep making more and more devices that play play android apps? I'm pretty sure it would. Like you do realize that Apple has already "consolized" the appleTV, right? You can buy games for your iPhone and play them on your appleTV and iPad right now Do you see any noticable impact PS4 and X1 sales? Because I don't. And do I think we're a few years away from having smart phones that are just as powerful, and as easy to port to as game consoles would be at that time? No. No I do not. I'm not sure anyone would. It has, and will forever remain true that when you have to build for a tiny form factor that runs off of battery power, you have to make tremendous sacrifices in performance compared to what you could design that runs off of outlet power, and can use a components and power consumption that is practically a degree of magnitude higher.. Your entire idea hinges on the concept that in 202whatever, most people are going to be totally content using a 5" 720p screen (as if rendering is the only critical factor) and because you think this one part of handheld device can stagnate, it can take better advantage of hardware improvements than consoles can. That's a PPI of 293. Whats the PPI of the iPhone 8 ? 326. How about the Samsung Galaxy? 571. But yeah, I'm totally sure smartphone users would be willing to accept a such a huge drop off in screen quality in 2018, that is only going to get larger as time goes on. Because reasons.
As for touch controls, you're the one that brought it up in your little dramatic rant. "If you are fine with touch controls, and gaming as an, oh yeah, you can do that if you like type of product, then great. If you are fine with Apple, and Google taking over everything, then steady the course," Yes, because it's just that easy to take over. That's why everyone is now using Google + instead of Facebook right? People wouldn't be using Facebook Messenger, they'd be using Google Buzz. And how many Google glass users do you see out in the wild? None. But you want to assume they can just bomb into the console space with a game console that lets you play AAA on your phone with touch controls, and wipe Sony and Nintendo off the map. You literally believe this will happen. You think that one day someone is going to choose a Google gamebox over a PS5 because the Google gamebox lets you play Madden with touch controls on your smart phone, as if there are hundreds of millions of people that think that's a feature worth buying. It isn't. Just like they haven't accepted motion controls or VR. Gamers still want to play on a TV, sitting down on their couch, using a gamepad. There's no reason to expect that is going to change any time soon. If Sony is the only one in five years time releasing a dedicated home console that you hook up to a TV, and lets you use a gamepad, and lets you play all of the latest AAA games from all the biggest publishers for the next five years, they'll enjoy 100 million + in sales for probably decades to come.
But hey at least Google knows that if they did want to go after the scraps in the game console space, they'll have at least one sale in you.
