| KBG29 said: Phil Harrison sat down with Geoff Keighley and confirmed a few more things about Stadia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIs_rAml9Yg -Online Multiplayer on Stadia will not be locked behind a Paywall. Online Multiplayer on Stadia is FREE. -Free 2 Play titles will be available on Stadia. -Subscription Services from 3rd party publishers will be supported by Stadia. -Stadia Hardware will have regular upgrades, but no timeline is being talked about right now. -Starting in 2020, players will be able to play Stadia Completely free of charge, using any device, and any controller they choose. Free 2 Play will be free, and gamers can subscribe to the services of their choice, or buy the specific titles they want. I feel like this is the same situation as when the iPhone launched, and I told gamers, we need PSP and DS Phones, or Handhelds will die. I was laughed off out of the gaming community. Then Vita launched with 3G and Phone services, and I told gamers, you need to support this or Handhelds will disappear. I was told, "I already have a phone", "It is too expensive", "Handhelds are for Gaming", People will never give up Handhelds for touch only gaming". Well, here we are in 2019 and handhelds are gone. So, I am telling you today, this is a serious threat to Consoles, and if core gamers want to continue to own Physical hardware, and Physical Software, then you need to take this seriously. Right now I am hearing the same types of things, "This is a complete joke", "People will never buy into a Game Streaming Platfrom", "No one will play games via streaming, the internet can not deliver a good enough experience", "Consoles are for Gaming, if I want to watch TV I have an SmartTV/Set Top Box, and if I want to browse the web or use apps I have a PC, Laptop, Tablet, or Smartphone". Core gamers refused to allow Handhelds and Consoles to expand. They pushed back every time Sony and Microsoft tried to make the platforms more appealing to the wider audience. Gamers sabotaged Gaming 1st Devices, and now it may be too late to save them, gamers may be paying the final price for their actions. I'm telling everyone here right now. If you want Consoles to survive, do not support Smart TV, do not support Set Top boxes, Do not buy these types of devices for friends or family, do not suggest these devices to anyone. Use your console for everything you do, show how consoles deliver a better experience than those devices, be happy to open up console to more people. Support the services on your consoles. If console gamers don't support consoles, then this kind of gaming will die, and Streaming or PC will be your only option. I am personally ready for whatever the future brings. I will game wherever gaming takes. I am just giving a history lesson, and a glimps of where the future could lead if the same path is followed again. Be inclusive, not exclusive. |
Handhelds didn't die due to phones though. Vita had terrible 1st party support, was too graphics intensive to attract AA handheld devs and was way outside the proper price point of a handheld. 3DS launched way outside the proper pricepoint of a handheld, and launched with no unique games. Had Nintendo launched a 2DS XL model at $180 back in early 2011, Nintendo would have sold 90 million 2DS XL units by now.
3DS will likely end it's lifetime sales at around 75 million, and that is by no means a failure. Yes, the DS sold 150 million, but so did the PS2. Does that mean the PS3 was such a failure that home consoles ceased to exist?
As far as consoles dying goes, I'm taking it as an inevitable thing. I'm fine if consoles die so long as it gets replaced with something just as good. Handhelds are no more, but they've been replaced by the Switch. The Switch is basically a Vita, Wii U, and 3DS all rolled into one. If consoles died, and then the console manufacturers went on to make a GoG style DRM free digital storefront, I'd be fine with that. Or if Sony/Nintendo released physical games to the PC, and started selling Nintendo/Sony branded disc drives that you needed to play their games, I'd be fine with that too.
What I don't want to see is Streaming as the only gaming option or digital-only games being sold for a full $60 on launch day, with DRM tacked on. DRM-Non-GoG-Style-Digital-Only games are only worth $45 at best, and that's if it's a game you are dying to play right this second. Otherwise you might as well wait for a sale.
