Streaming remove the biggest constraint from consoles and PCs:
- High price entry: Buying a machine to then play is the reason why console+PC gaming is nowhere near as popular as music or cinema, even though is a bigger market when it comes to revenue
As much people here turn down on streaming is the only feasible way I see for companies to keep making their single player AAA games. The only reason why movies budget kept increasing is because enough people was going to theaters to make them financially viable.
Those games will need to sell for more people and seems we already close to reach the limit number of people willing to spend over 400 USD on dedicated hardware
Multiplayer games are a different animal, they are interactive, easier to monetize and keep on market indefinitely until you recover your investment and provide a good income baseline for as long the publisher find worth it. Plus the interactive nature of such games make them more feasible to reach wider audiences thanks to good word of mouth
Also those games has much bigger shelves life. When FF XIV launched I'm sure an entry level PC couldn't play it. Today almost any PC can run it effortlessly, meaning the game was designed for high specs, but the natural course of time will naturally make it feasible for casual gamers who don't buy dedicated hardware
Which leads for the second biggest constraint of PCs/Consoles:
- No more need for upgrades. The game will launch and can reach a big userbase right of the bat
I don't see consoles disappearing, but I see at best 2 more generations (roughly 20 years) with consoles being the focus of manufacturers. Xbox is likely to be the first one to give up, which will lead Sony and Nintendo profits to go up enough to keep more generations going and provide a much more smooth transition to streaming. Hopefully internet will be good enough to not compromise experience as much as they do it today.
