Mama Robotnik
Member
- Apr 11, 2008
- 7,999
- 10
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Thanks to the Steam sale, I purchased and played Sonic Generations for the first time today. I'm still making up my mind on whether I don't-hate-it or not, but the visual and audio nods to the 16-bit era put me in a somewhat melancholic mood.
I started remembering the 1980s and 1990s, and the incredible gaming experiences the Sega Mega Drive offered me: Sonic 1/2/CD/3/Knuckles, Story of Thor, Soleil, Micro Machines, Ecco the Dolphin, Wonderboy III, Landstalker, Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Toe Jam and Earl, Comix Zone, far too many to mention. Then I started thinking about when I traded it all in for a Super Nintendo, so I could play Mario All Stars, Yoshi's Island, Mario World, Zelda, Metroid, Actraiser, Sim City, Chrono Trigger, Bomberman, etc.
I ended up trading each of the consoles back in more than once, desperate to play the exclusive new releases on the platform I didn't own. It was an era in which Nintendo and Sega were these competing juggernauts of gaming, both massively successful and apparently untouchable. It was difficult at the time, to imagine them not being these omnipresent first party console makers.
Fast forward two console generations and the unthinkable happens. Sega goes third party, and the Nintendo's Gamecube is relegated to an also-ran position behind its powerhouse rivals. Nintendo of course, were able to bounce back. Sega on the other hand, have cemented a less-glorious but still notable existence as a medium-sized third party publisher.
What I'm trying to explain in a roundabout sort of way, is that it only took ten years for Sega to go from apparently untouchable, to completely bowing out of hardware development. The recollection made me wonder where the industry might be ten or twenty years from today, if and when the juggernauts of this era will be forced to bow out. Simply put, it might take X number of generations, but the status-quo will eventually change.
Here is the question I'm asking with this thread - which of the big three console developers - Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony - would you expect to bow out first?
I don't want one, two, three, four or five-word answers, if you have any reasoning I'd love to hear it. For example, you could look at a company's present financial stability, or a demonstrated weakness to adapt to a changing world. You could look at a company as a whole and how much it prioritises its gaming developments, or look at how much stability the company would have when faced with repeated failures. You could look at the increasing influence of other forces in the industry, or at the big three's ability to endure possibly worsening international economic upheaval. You can offer any reasoning you like, I'll be interested to hear it.
Its obviously completely wanton speculation, as it equally would have been back in the Mega Drive and SNES era, but speculation is fun. So then, which of the big three companies, do you see bowing out of console development first, and why?
(You might also see multiple scenarios taking place, in which XYZ series of events happen causing one to bow out, but ABC series of events could lead to the other bowing out - these speculations would also be welcomed).
Thanks.
I started remembering the 1980s and 1990s, and the incredible gaming experiences the Sega Mega Drive offered me: Sonic 1/2/CD/3/Knuckles, Story of Thor, Soleil, Micro Machines, Ecco the Dolphin, Wonderboy III, Landstalker, Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Toe Jam and Earl, Comix Zone, far too many to mention. Then I started thinking about when I traded it all in for a Super Nintendo, so I could play Mario All Stars, Yoshi's Island, Mario World, Zelda, Metroid, Actraiser, Sim City, Chrono Trigger, Bomberman, etc.
I ended up trading each of the consoles back in more than once, desperate to play the exclusive new releases on the platform I didn't own. It was an era in which Nintendo and Sega were these competing juggernauts of gaming, both massively successful and apparently untouchable. It was difficult at the time, to imagine them not being these omnipresent first party console makers.
Fast forward two console generations and the unthinkable happens. Sega goes third party, and the Nintendo's Gamecube is relegated to an also-ran position behind its powerhouse rivals. Nintendo of course, were able to bounce back. Sega on the other hand, have cemented a less-glorious but still notable existence as a medium-sized third party publisher.
What I'm trying to explain in a roundabout sort of way, is that it only took ten years for Sega to go from apparently untouchable, to completely bowing out of hardware development. The recollection made me wonder where the industry might be ten or twenty years from today, if and when the juggernauts of this era will be forced to bow out. Simply put, it might take X number of generations, but the status-quo will eventually change.
Here is the question I'm asking with this thread - which of the big three console developers - Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony - would you expect to bow out first?
I don't want one, two, three, four or five-word answers, if you have any reasoning I'd love to hear it. For example, you could look at a company's present financial stability, or a demonstrated weakness to adapt to a changing world. You could look at a company as a whole and how much it prioritises its gaming developments, or look at how much stability the company would have when faced with repeated failures. You could look at the increasing influence of other forces in the industry, or at the big three's ability to endure possibly worsening international economic upheaval. You can offer any reasoning you like, I'll be interested to hear it.
Its obviously completely wanton speculation, as it equally would have been back in the Mega Drive and SNES era, but speculation is fun. So then, which of the big three companies, do you see bowing out of console development first, and why?
(You might also see multiple scenarios taking place, in which XYZ series of events happen causing one to bow out, but ABC series of events could lead to the other bowing out - these speculations would also be welcomed).
Thanks.
