RolStoppable said:
That would be great, because it would raise the bar for Sony. For too long Sony could bank on the consumer attitude of "at least they aren't Microsoft." Conventional wisdom says that competition is good for the consumer, but what has it really brought for the consumer through the past two decades? Competition didn't stop online multiplayer from getting put behind a paywall, it didn't stop any of the AAA industry's money-making schemes, it didn't maintain the quality of games at launch as day one patches followed by multiple patches afterwards became regarded as a normal thing. And of course paid-for exclusivity of games is also a consequence of competition that didn't benefit consumers as a whole. It isn't too hard to name two bad things for every one good thing that happened because of competition and there is definitely no net gain for the consumer here. Conventional wisdom says that monopolies are bad, but for one, Sony wouldn't have a monopoly anyway with Microsoft being gone; on one hand you have the PC with high-end graphics and on the other hand you have Nintendo who share a very high number of games with Sony below the AAA level (as does the PC). And two, is portable console gaming worse since Sony has exited and left it all to Nintendo? The opposite is the case. |
Good response. Too many are funneled into believing competition is the savior to this industry, when in fact, we have seen nothing but the complete opposite over the generations. A good example of this is that those people that want competition, are the first ones to whine when a game is exclusive and not coming to other platforms etc. Competition actually divides the consumers and the business model, it breeds fanboys and console wars and brand damaging etc. What is even more crazy, is that competition actually ends up costing the consumers more, because they need to purchase more platforms and services to play all the games.
PCs are living proof you don't need competition and ironically PCs offer the best value in gaming, no online paywalls, best and more common discounts, bigger variety of games and the list goes on. Meanwhile it was competition that brought in online paywalls, it was competition that raised game and console prices, it was competition that actually takes the consumers for a ride.
In saying all that, Xbox leaving wouldn't leave a monopoly, Nintendo, Mobile, PCs are valid options to gaming.
