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Pachter predicts the death of the console

His reasoning is subject to debate, but there's no question this medium is contacting. I'm not about to place any bets, but I don't think all the current generation consoles combined will even reach Wii sales.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Aren't people with a vested interest in whatever they are pushing predict the death of consoles every week? And then after the holiday season after PS4 has reached 15 million people will be singing a different tune again.

Sure MS can prepare for mobile, they have zero momentum and marketshare, and its not worth it to keep their product line open, but Sony and Nintendo have lived with their own hardware before MS entered the game, i'm sure they will be there when MS is gone too
 
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I dub thee smarmy.gif
 

Sydle

Member
I agree that specialty gaming devices will become redundant. We're already seeing Sony moving towards a service with PSNow. Won't be long before Microsoft offers a platform agnostic Xbox service. They'll probably continue to provide their own hardware, but it won't be the only way to get their games.

I look forward to having to buy one mobile device and one living room device. Can't happen soon enough.
 

Alchemy

Member
Phones have been powerful enough to be console replacements for how many years now? I mean my iPhone shits all over my SNES, guess I don't need consoles anymore!
 

Almighty

Member
Eh he is probably right even if the time table is off. I can see console becoming a little device that streams games off a server somewhere or off your phone onto your TV.
 

Brofield

Member
All consoles? Lunacy.

But given the continuing struggling sales of MS Xbox division, it could be possible that Xbox Two/Four might be a final hurrah.

But what do I know? I'm only an armchair analyst without a business degree who offers conjecture for free.
 

JeffGrubb

Member
C'mon Michael. Stick to the financial aspects. You are are not an engineer. When you try to talk about the technology it just comes out as hilarious. Battery issues, power consumption, heat dissipation are all serious issues that are not easy to handle. Thus, mobile devices are always a little behind the larger plug-in stuff.

And Microsoft knows this stuff full well. We are talking about a company that had to write-off $1B because their console with a big fan still overheated and died with a RROD.

Can you cut down on the copy-paste and link to the story?
 

Jamix012

Member
The console market may, and probably will, shrink down to the point where it's not viable for 3 competitors, but I don't think it'll ever disappear.
 
The model of the console as all-in-one set-top box that Microsoft has been pushing since the very first Xbox could very well die. But I'll take a moment to note that vinyl records and midrange DSLR cameras are doing just fine in the MP3/smartphone age. Dedicated game hardware will contract and stabilize around a specialist niche as it already shows signs of doing, and while the antsier players in the industry will jump ship it won't spell the death of the market.

Pachter's schtick is to look at game consoles as just another subsection of consumer hardware in competition with all the others and riding the same technology trends. It's a useful perspective in its own way but often too shortsighted, and it's why his dial is wildly off when it comes to companies like Nintendo.
 

LakeEarth

Member
I really think things like game streaming is the future, but it's still early and the sloooowww upgrading of internet to our houses is going to dictate when this happens. Is it a decade away? Two? Three? That's the tough question.
 

Trago

Member
I agree that specialty gaming devices will become redundant. We're already seeing Sony moving towards a service with PSNow. Won't be long before Microsoft offers a platform agnostic Xbox service. They'll probably continue to provide their own hardware, but it won't be the only way to get their games.

I look forward to having to buy one mobile device and one living room device. Can't happen soon enough.

I agree. With Microsoft specifically, they have a digital store that spans windows and their phones. And then there's that web browsing cloud gaming thing.

I suspect things like this will pull in the less enthusiast crowd that left consoles entirely.
 

Sid

Member
I'd like to see PS5 launch in 2021 with 10+TF of computing power and be the last PlayStation followed by cloud streaming.
 
The concept of games being processed locally is slowly dying. As Sony and Microsoft gradually improve their back end infrastructure, streaming and real time cloud gaming will only become more prominent. You'll be able to play a game anywhere, irrespective of your device.

In 8 years, "Xbox" and "Playstation" won't be viewed as hardware platforms, but as entertainment services.

Really? Are you playing on OnLive?

You think the internet is magically going to become faster in the next 8 years?

What happens when 4K arrives?

Good luck with that.

Read all about that glorious future:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/search.php?searchid=21917441
 

Duxxy3

Member
Until the day comes that televisions have the processing power of consoles, they are not going anywhere. Cell phones don't replace consoles the same way handhelds don't replace consoles.
 

SegaShack

Member
I guarantee you you ask a group of people if they know what Steam is they would say no, but they would immediately know what Xbox and Playstation are.

There is no way around saying it, streaming is bullshit. Anyone who has heard vinyl or watched a Blu-Ray knows that streaming music and video doesn't even come close to the quality of having a local copy. Gaming especially would be the worst for streaming as there is so much to load in and it is interactive. I don't want to hit the jump button and have an internet connection send that command across the world to another machine that actually processes that command in the game, and then have the video relayed back to me. Forget that.

Pachter, post on here and talk to us, we miss you.
 

Phades

Member
I really think things like game streaming is the future, but it's still early and the sloooowww upgrading of internet to our houses is going to dictate when this happens. Is it a decade away? Two? Three? That's the tough question.

Depends on where you live really. Anything semi-rural is going to have a tough time of it given how things are currently.
 
I kind of agree.

I mean remember you can now play GTA:SA, on your iPhone.
In another eight or nine years we will be able to play GTAV on one. Double that and we will be able to play whatever the last GTA is this generation which will probably look quite a bit more technically superior to The Division ..The Division..

That's 18 years from now. An iPhone ... may well do achieve that.


How much will we care about graphics after that? I'd argue not much longer after two or three generations at the latest.

I mean Imagine just hooking up your iPhone to your television and playing a $3 version of GTA:VII.
 

Orayn

Member
He is correct that low-end and general purpose devices are enough to fulfill a lot of peoples' entertainment needs.

He's wrong in saying that phones and set-top boxes will be "good enough" for so many people that nobody will need or want anything more powerful. If anything, the consoles will fit pretty well into the paradigm of Roku, Fire TV, and what have you, serving as a higher end alternative for anyone who wants demanding games in addition to media features.

As for streaming games, that's still up in the air at this point. We'll have to see how PSNow performs before we make any major judgments.
 
Instead of console, the CPU & GPU could move elsewhere . . . in your TV, in your cable box, using a PC instead, etc. But I wouldn't call that the death of the console . . . just it moving.

Eh...

That sounds like the death of the console to me, sorry. Pachter is basically saying that in the part you bolded.
 

Sulik2

Member
He is right. Streaming technology is progressing at a much faster rate than I think anyone expected. As long as something is done to break up the ISP monopolies in the US there is no reason for consoles 8-10 years down the road to simply be a streaming application and a controller.
 

Duster

Member
What is he on about when it comes to microprocessors?
Didn't 80s and 90s home computers contain them and work fine on a TV screen? That would suggest that isn't the reason for the success of consoles.
Or is he saying something about the size of a microprocessor and USB sticks?

(Asking genuinely, I'm not that great on the technical side of things so have a feeling I'm completely misunderstanding)
 

Exile20

Member
C'mon Michael. Stick to the financial aspects. You are are not an engineer. When you try to talk about the technology it just comes out as hilarious. Battery issues, power consumption, heat dissipation are all serious issues that are not easy to handle. Thus, mobile devices are always a little behind the larger plug-in stuff.

And Microsoft knows this stuff full well. We are talking about a company that had to write-off $1B because their console with a big fan still overheated and died with a RROD.

You just said it in your post. Being a little behind might be worth it especially since mobile is becoming more and more popular.
 

Carl

Member
We roll our eyes at this on this forum, but the more casual hardcore gamer in me says yes I would love to stream Assassin's Creed 12 to my TV from a stick or my phone instead of buying another console. There are positives, not just negatives.

Personally i can't think of anything i'd enjoy less.
 
I don't see how or why it'd be any easier than on console/PC. :/

Considering assholes are spawning Meteors in my PS3 GTA Online, you're probably right. I'd just assume the process would have a lower barrier to entry, being that most (android) phones are incredibly easy to mess around with.
 

Now that is pure pwnage.

Pachter: This Is The Final Generation
KEANE NG | 24 MARCH 2009 8:39 PM

Xbox 720, PlayStation 4, uh, Wiii? None of these are going to happen, and if they do happen it's not going to be any time soon, says industry analyst Michael Pachter. According to him, this is the last console generation.

You can go ahead and take that 800 dollars you were saving up for a Xbox 720 or PS4 and try to inject your local economy with some cash flow, because according to Wedbush Morgan industry fortune teller supreme Michael Pachter, this generation will be the last generation of consoles. Ever.

"I think we've seen the last generation of consoles," Pachter said at the GamesBeat conference today. What Pachter saw in his crystal ball was this: Nintendo might release an upgraded Wii with HD and more storage, but Sony and Microsoft probably won't release another console. That's because there's just no more money in it, and third parties won't want it either
.
 

dakun

Member
i don't know where i heard it but i agree with the statement..

i think the successful first year of Playstation (and even Xbox One) pretty much guarantees that both companies will very soon start talking about a successor internally.

Remember they talked about how the PS4 was in the starting phases around 2008? well if both consoles continue this momentum until 2016 there is no way we won't see another console generation.
 

Rolf NB

Member
Pachter said:
I mean, your phone will be powerful enough to power any game in two more generations.
120W+ consoles vs 1~5W smartphones are obviously going to be equally powerful any time now.

Physics, how do they work.
 
I kind of agree.

I mean remember you can now play GTA:SA, on your iPhone.
In another eight or nine years we will be able to play GTAV on there. Double that and we will be able to play whatever the last GTA is this generation which'ok probably look quite a bit more technically superior to The Division.

That's 18 years from now. An iPhone ... may well do achieve that.


How much will we care about graphics after that?

Imagine just hooking up your iPhone to your television and playing a $3 version of GTA:VII.

I think you're underestimating how long it will take for that. The latest phones can already roughly play early Xbox 360 games (See: Bioshock.). I bet three years from now they will easily be able to play GTA V (Not the re released version coming out this year though).
 
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