Patrick made a good point in his Q&A video that Sony is likely closely watching threads like this and gauging reactions, so I wanted to put my two cents out there:
I'm not against the idea of iterative consoles in concept, but I feel like doing it *now* of all times is perilous at best and a bait-and-switch at worst. As tons of people have said, launching PSVR in the same time frame as an iterative hardware update seems like a gigantic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. It's hard to process how that could be pulled off successfully. You're asking your passionate and loyal audience to spend $399 minimum on a rad headset that is the fulfillment of years of hype and decades of wishing... which will then immediately feel outdated when they're asked to spend another >$399 on an entirely new console? How would that not engender resentment and be a total wet blanket?
Perhaps the iPad business model seems appealing, but look at the trend of iPad sales... When faced with a device that is super expensive and is outdated relatively quickly, people begin to realize that hey, maybe that device isn't as important as I thought it was, and maybe I can live without it, especially if this is what happens when I buy into it. At least that's what my thought process has been like.
Again, I would be open to this idea if it were presented this way from the start and if I knew what I was getting into. But to spring this in the middle of a generation that has otherwise been signaled as traditional seems like it would be getting off on the wrong foot.
I would be curious to hear some candid thoughts on this concept from the developers that have been briefed... Do they feel like this is a good idea? Do they think Sony is doing it right? Etc.
But right now I'm in Thumbs Down mode.
Edit: and of course the discussion in the thread circles back to my same thinking points in the time it takes me to write it. Nothing to see here...
I'm not against the idea of iterative consoles in concept, but I feel like doing it *now* of all times is perilous at best and a bait-and-switch at worst. As tons of people have said, launching PSVR in the same time frame as an iterative hardware update seems like a gigantic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. It's hard to process how that could be pulled off successfully. You're asking your passionate and loyal audience to spend $399 minimum on a rad headset that is the fulfillment of years of hype and decades of wishing... which will then immediately feel outdated when they're asked to spend another >$399 on an entirely new console? How would that not engender resentment and be a total wet blanket?
Perhaps the iPad business model seems appealing, but look at the trend of iPad sales... When faced with a device that is super expensive and is outdated relatively quickly, people begin to realize that hey, maybe that device isn't as important as I thought it was, and maybe I can live without it, especially if this is what happens when I buy into it. At least that's what my thought process has been like.
Again, I would be open to this idea if it were presented this way from the start and if I knew what I was getting into. But to spring this in the middle of a generation that has otherwise been signaled as traditional seems like it would be getting off on the wrong foot.
I would be curious to hear some candid thoughts on this concept from the developers that have been briefed... Do they feel like this is a good idea? Do they think Sony is doing it right? Etc.
But right now I'm in Thumbs Down mode.
Edit: and of course the discussion in the thread circles back to my same thinking points in the time it takes me to write it. Nothing to see here...