The "Mobilefication" of Video Game Consoles

[The Legend of Sunblade]

Oscar said something a while back that has left me thinking for a few days now. Now I'm not nearly as pessimistic about the console industry as he is, so that sentence made me think about the stuff that's been going in regards to game announcements, game sales, etc etc. What he said in particular was:

edit: the traditional gaming media *is* dying, though.  that's because traditional gaming *itself* is dying.

I'm of the belief that we may be seeing a shift in what would be considered the norm of the typical console generation. The definition of the norm is this: with every new console generation, the old hardware is jettisoned and forgotten to make way for the new system. It's been the method of operation for every major console manufacturer all the way from the Magnavox Odyssey up to a few years ago with Nintendo dropping all support for the Wii in favor of its successor. What the past year is showing, however, is a change in that mentality. The way the mobile market operates has changed consumer expectations, and people aren't as willing to part with their PS3s and 360s as easily as they would have even 5 years ago. Developers themselves have adapted to this, which we're seeing with a lot of cross-gen titles coming in the future from both Japanese and Western developers. With Japanese games in particular, we're seeing games that are due to come out on the PS3, Vita, PS4 or any combination of the three. This is obviously not a good thing from the perspective of the traditional generation shift; But my thoughts on the matter, and the reason why I'm posting this, are... is that situation really such a bad thing?

If there's one major difference in the current console generation compared to the ones before it, it's that the PS3 continues to have relatively healthy sales even going into its assumed twilight years. With Japanese developers in particular, who knows how many more years of support the console will have. I'm not going to argue that Sony (and to a lesser degree, MS) planned to have this happen, I'm sure they planned on the PS4 having the typical console transiton, as shown with them having all their major development studios working on PS4 games. But as the situation progresses, is it not possible for Sony to keep all three ecosystems alive as a unified service? A lot of pubs and devs are offering either upgrade programs for last gen to Vita/PS4 versions if not outright giving them for free for having bought the PS3 version. I can picture a scenario where all three systems are kept alive: The PS4 for the diehard who want their games running/looking the best they can (on consoles), the Vita version for people who would rather play the same game on a handheld and the PS3 for people who don't want/care to upgrade to a new system immediately; kind of like how mobile currently works with new hardware coming out every year.

Now I know that a mobile comparison will never be 1:1. People buy stuff on the iOS/Google app stores for lots of different reasons. Apps released on mobile are almost always guaranteed to keep working on future versions of the ecosystem/hardware you buy it on. We're still a ways from that being a thing on consoles. Price is also a factor, but that's another argument that mobile easily wins out of due to how much more use you can get out of a phone than a dedicated game console, though in this case it'd be buying one "new" console every couple of years versus a new one every year. But what I can't see being too different is the goal of wanting people to buy an app/game on your market. I don't see why Sony/MS should be upset about a game being sold on the 360, as long as its a game that's still being sold on their own platform and not their competitor's. Whether Token Indie game sells a copy on PS4, PS3 or Vita, it's still money for both the developer and Sony. If a developer can easilly get the game running on PS3/Vita due it not being too resource intensive, why not release it there as well instead of keeping it as PS4 exclusive? Hell, make it a digital cross-buy deal across all platforms as an extra incentive. It's risky due to not having been done before, but I could easily see the Playstation "family" adapting into the future with a branding not unlike the one iOS devices use.

I could just be off my rocker with all this. Dunno, I just think that this particular generation seems the most likely to bring about a change in the status quo. I'm in agreement that "traditional" gaming as we know it is dying... but whether it's collapsing on itself or simply adapting to the current times is someone I look forward to seeing. Felt like typing all this shit out somewhere so it might as well be here.

tl;dr - Dedicated game hardware adapting to the mobile mobel: PS4 for the most "cutting edge", Vita for portability and PS3 for those who can't afford the latest model but still want to be able to play the latest games albeit with poorer performance.

[thisismyusername]

Outside of Japanese JRPG's which don't really need that much power, I can't see the PS3 staying around for another year outside of like... 2016 maybe? Persona 5 was the swan song of the console for me, but Atlus is putting it on PS4 to possibly recoup some costs in the west with the people that bought the PS4 ("OMG FINALLY NEW GEN" crowd basically) so it isn't like this is a "mobile" mentality so much as "dev costs have skyrocketed and there is a huge base out there right now that it makes sense to cross-gen games until the next-gen (PS4/X-box) market share catches up and makes the costs worthwhile to drop the support.

I know you mentioned the "upgrade" programs but that doesn't make the publishers money. I can't see them purposely "downgrading" next-gen games for the small hold-outs/cheapskates that already have 100+ titles on the PS360 generation they can go through via Gamestop just to give them the next-gen version for free for their $60 either way while not getting the $60 back for one of the versions.

[The Legend of Sunblade]

The upgrade programs are usually limited to just digital versions at least. I did forget to touch on the physical/retail side of things, which is another major difference between the traditional console model and the the mobile structure. I didn't really bring up the upgrade stuff as a means to make money anyway, more like a step towards making the platform more like mobile in the sense that you buy the "app" once and can use it on every compatible platform.

Really, I just wonder if keeping the PS3 supported longer than expected is really such a bad thing. If games are still selling on it as well as the PS4 (to the point where the cost to port the game to it is justified, obviously), money is still being made for the dev/platform owner as long as it's still within their ecosystem. Ports aren't free, but with every GCD that goes by I see some new conference on how Sony keep making partnerships to make it easier to develop/port to their platforms as a whole rather than shoehorn everything to just their newest and shiniest toy.

[ToxicAdam]

Every generation has brought a change in the status quo. So, that wouldn't be unique to this one.

I think what's happening in the video game business is the same things that happened to the music and television industry. The consumer is presented with new technologies that offers them more choices (cheaper) than ever before. It completely shatters the previous business model. Television networks and record labels still exist, but they are just a shell of what they used to be (but still have prestige and power). Numbers that once were considered a flop are now top ranked products.

[I'm a Puppy!]

If you think that Sony and Microsoft are competing for your gaming dollar you'd be largely wrong. Sure, they are to an extent. But they're competing to be your content provider. As such there's a difference in the way this gen will play out. They're not just interested in selling you games, they're selling their network to you. As such it's a name game. PS4/XB1 not just as a gaming center but an entertainment center. As such it's in their interest to tap into the branding and place their customers on a path to upgrade if they're not upgrading yet. So it's a combination of a changing market but also better marketing.

I think the really interesting story isn't about how Sony and Microsoft are competing, but more of the fact that Nintendo isn't. I know people are like "Nintendo gonna Nintendo." But I think they're sorta right here. I think the fight for that holy grail of "entertainment center" will eventually be a fruitless battle.  The market is going to spread and democratize more and more the idea of a single way to get to entertainment is a long dead idea. People just don't know it yet.

[DCharlieJP]

once iOS show their iGame solution and the fact it'll be $69 is going to put the big jackheeled boot into the console gaming corpse

the last curb stomp will be the games line up for iphone6+ class devices.

(i just want the world to burn)

I think the really interesting story isn't about how Sony and Microsoft are competing, but more of the fact that Nintendo isn't. I know people are like "Nintendo gonna Nintendo."

Nintendo are sleepwalking into oblivion.

[bork]

once iOS show their iGame solution and the fact it'll be $69 is going to put the big jackheeled boot into the console gaming corpse

What is it that you're referring to?

[Human Snorenado]

Thinking the Vita is a competitive mobile platform

 

[MrAngryFace]

I think my problem with these sorts of changes is that the new primary demographic is totally ok with throwaway bullshit as long as its cheap because they were never really interested in it to begin with. How many Clash of Clans games do we need? Why are they always rated so highly on the store? Why so popular? The devil, probably.

At least full price ports are making it to mobile....

[Human Snorenado]

The mobile future doesn't really bother me because I don't really play that many games, and for the foreseeable future at least the kind of games I *DO* like to play will continue to be available to me.

I like to cheerlead for the death of the industry as we know it because it may rustle some jimmies and the people running these companies are idiots.

[ToxicAdam]

I think it's easy for people to focus on the drek of mobile, but gaming has always been '90% crap / 10% great' bargain. Sometimes even worse depending on the system. It just seems more overwhelming on mobile because the barrier to make a game is so low. So the problems of copycatting and gouging become more abundant.

I think as times goes on, sites like Touch Arcade and the in-store editorial recommendations will really help people wade through the crap. The consumers will become more discerning also.
 

[Human Snorenado]

I think as times goes on, sites like Touch Arcade and the in-store editorial recommendations will really help people wade through the crap. The consumers will become more discerning also.

Yes, yes, and hahahhahahahahahahaha no.

[demi]

I think as times goes on, sites like Touch Arcade and the in-store editorial recommendations will really help people wade through the crap. The consumers will become more discerning also.

Lol. I know we have a writer here but, lol.

[Stoney Mason]

It's like modern pop music. The gatekeepers don't have the same power they use to have. This is both a good and bad thing. It's much more democratic. But you also get to see what the filthy masses actually want to play. And a lot of that is shit for people who have been gaming all their life.

Which is not to say there isn't also a very good critical side of mobile gaming that is more thoughtful.

[ToxicAdam]

Lol. I know we have a writer here but, lol.

I didn't mean their in-house reviews, I meant their app.  It's a pretty good way to get a snapshot of what's out there and see user response.

[I'm a Puppy!]

yeah, i know it's a bit trite to say it at this point, but unless nintendo makes some seriously big changes in their strategy, i don't see a long future for them in the hardware business.  their fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la "plan" has finally bit them in the ass hard, and they can't even lean on handheld sales to save them this time, cuz that market has irrevocably been stolen away by mobile devices.

I disagree. I think that everyone thinks of Nintendo differently than Nintendo thinks of themselves. They're a toy company. If you think of them this way, it's not so hard to see why they act the way they do.

[Stoney Mason]

It's fine to view yourself however you want to see yourself. At some point reality has to seep in though when market conditions change.

[cool breeze]

yeah, i know it's a bit trite to say it at this point, but unless nintendo makes some seriously big changes in their strategy, i don't see a long future for them in the hardware business.  their fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la "plan" has finally bit them in the ass hard, and they can't even lean on handheld sales to save them this time, cuz that market has irrevocably been stolen away by mobile devices.

I disagree. I think that everyone thinks of Nintendo differently than Nintendo thinks of themselves. They're a toy company. If you think of them this way, it's not so hard to see why they act the way they do.

maybe they're going back to that by actually making toys, but stuff like the wii u tv remote and social network and showcasing the (relatively) faster web browser on the new new 3ds, etc. make me think those in-charge don't view nintendo as a toy company.

[Take My Breh Away]

Everyone seems to be screwed in hardware because the AMD/Nvidia Price war that waged the past two years is starting to really bring down costs of building a PC and mobile is out of most of their reach. Microsoft and Sony's exit strategies are mostly exposed on to of that with Microsoft likely looking to PC gaming and Sony to streaming.

Nintendo, god knows. Hardware cash out and/or sell up to Bandai Namco? 

[I'm a Puppy!]

yeah, i know it's a bit trite to say it at this point, but unless nintendo makes some seriously big changes in their strategy, i don't see a long future for them in the hardware business.  their fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la "plan" has finally bit them in the ass hard, and they can't even lean on handheld sales to save them this time, cuz that market has irrevocably been stolen away by mobile devices.

I disagree. I think that everyone thinks of Nintendo differently than Nintendo thinks of themselves. They're a toy company. If you think of them this way, it's not so hard to see why they act the way they do.

maybe they're going back to that by actually making toys, but stuff like the wii u tv remote and social network and showcasing the (relatively) faster web browser on the new new 3ds, etc. make me think those in-charge don't view nintendo as a toy company.

See I view it as they make toys that have some additional doo-dads. Not as a true electronics competitor. They've said several times they don't view the electronics race as a race that they can win/is worth winning. I think we're going to see a waning of Nintendo influence but I think they'll still make their share of the money and when you have as much cash as they do, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[I'm a Puppy!]

yeah, i know it's a bit trite to say it at this point, but unless nintendo makes some seriously big changes in their strategy, i don't see a long future for them in the hardware business.  their fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la "plan" has finally bit them in the ass hard, and they can't even lean on handheld sales to save them this time, cuz that market has irrevocably been stolen away by mobile devices.

I disagree. I think that everyone thinks of Nintendo differently than Nintendo thinks of themselves. They're a toy company. If you think of them this way, it's not so hard to see why they act the way they do.

I think them being a domestically-focused "traditional" Japanese company is a lot more instructive as to their behavior.  Stubborn and myopic to a dangerous degree.

I've worked with "traditional" japanese companies that aren't like that. But have seen loads of toy companies that are.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Yeah, Maybe you're right. I work with japanese companies but that do business overseas. When I take a look at Nintendo I see a toy company that's just fine with being 3rd place and staying 3rd place. I think it's weird when everyone keeps expecting them to compete against Apple, Sony and Microsoft. I think they're just largely uninterested.

[DCharlieJP]

That "war chest" isn't going to last forever. 

I've tried to explain why the War Chest is an M&A liability and that thier poison pill defense isn't particularly that great but i keep getting shouted down by man babies so i'm not about to try again

instead i will use passive aggressive snide comments like the one above

I work with japanese companies

as an aside - so do i. Daily. Face to face, with senior management.
I cannot disclose how this all works of feels, so let me give you an interpretation in the medium of song :



This is basically how it is -plus- they are roughly 15 years behind. Seriously.

And i don't see this being any different for Nintendo. They're just going to be constantly lagging - and doing what they did with the WiiU (in Japan at least) looking to undo the smack talking about new innovation as it becomes their new innovation years down the line. Their entire WiiU argument was "BUT LOOK , LOOK at how much better HD makes things!" after the previous message of "no one can tell the difference between SD and HD!"

They are so so so fucked. Handclapping them going HD or, as will happen with next hardware, that they finally have a unified account or whatever is like clapping a limbless man for not throwing themselves into a swimming pool

[The Legend of Sunblade]

My favorite video game interview from this year was this Eurogamer one with an anomymous developer that worked on one of the launch games for the WiiU. It's a good read, but just to post my favorite part of it:

Around this time we got the chance to talk to some more senior people in Nintendo, via a phone conference, as they were gathering feedback on our development experiences and their toolchain. This phone conference gave an interesting insight into Nintendo and how it appears to operate.

The discussion started off well enough and covered off our experiences with the hardware and (slow) toolchain and then we steered them towards discussing when the online features might be available. We were told that the features, and the OS updates to support them, would be available before the hardware launch, but only just. There were apparently issues with setting up a large networking infrastructure to rival Sony and Microsoft that they hadn't envisaged.

This was surprising to hear, as we would have thought that they had plenty of time to work on these features as it had been announced months before, so we probed a little deeper and asked how certain scenarios might work with the Mii friends and networking, all the time referencing how Xbox Live and PSN achieve the same thing. At some point in this conversation we were informed that it was no good referencing Live and PSN as nobody in their development teams used those systems (!) so could we provide more detailed explanations for them? My only thought after this call was that they were struggling - badly - with the networking side as it was far more complicated than they anticipated. They were trying to play catch-up with the rival systems, but without the years of experience to back it up.

[I'm a Puppy!]

I've said it many times. Nintendo has moments of brilliance followed by months and months of bewildering amateur-hour failures.

When they say things like "longer dev cycles and massive teams is not in our interest." I totally agree. When they say that they can't and wont compete on the hardware front. I also agree. When they say graphics aren't the main focus, I also agree. But then they just follow up with months and month and months of mountains of crap. The Wii U, the eshop? third party? Any one of these would be a case study in failure that you'd study in college. Really quite perplexing.

[benjipwns]

Another curious thing to note at this point was that over the course of six months we received multiple different development kits in a variety of colours, none of which revealed why they were different from the previous one. We knew that there were some hardware bugs that were being fixed, but the release notes rarely stated what had changed - we just had to take the new ones and get them working with our code again, consuming valuable development time.

Now that the game was up and running on the console we could start developing features that would use the new controllers and make our game stand out on the platform. But soon after starting this we ran into some issues that the (minimal) documentation didn't cover, so we asked questions of our local Nintendo support team. They didn't know the answers so they said they would check with the developers in Japan and we waited for a reply. And we waited. And we waited.

After about a week of chasing we heard back from the support team that they had received an answer from Japan, which they emailed to us. The reply was in the form of a few sentences of very broken English that didn't really answer the question that we had asked in the first place. So we went back to them asking for clarification, which took another week or so to come back. After the second delay we asked why it was taking to long for replies to come back from Japan, were they very busy? The local support team said no, it's just that any questions had to be sent off for translation into Japanese, then sent to the developers, who replied and then the replies were translated back to English and sent back to us. With timezone differences and the delay in translating, this usually took a week !

As promised, (just) before the worldwide launch we received the final networking features that we required for our game along with an OS update for the development kits that would allow us to test. So we patched up our code and tried to start testing our game.

First up we had to flash the kits to the retail mode that had the Mii and network features. This was a very complicated manual process that left the consoles in a halfway state. In the retail mode we could test our features and ensure that they worked as expected, which would be a requirement for getting through Nintendo certification, but in this mode the debugging capabilities were limited.

[benjipwns]

snoox
8 months ago
This 3rd party guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Nintendo does NOT rely on 3rd party devs to survive as does Sony & Microsoft. Wii U will not sell as many units as those guys but does that mean doom? No. What people need to understand is Nintendo's business model is very different than the other consoles'. The others are the video game console business model, while Nintendo is more like a toy company business model... I read about it from a money guy that actually knows what he's talking about. Nintendo has mountains of money in their bankroll, sure Wii U isn't doing as well as they'd wished but it is not even close to doom. Oh btw the 3DS is kicking everyone else's azz.

vizzini
8 months ago
The problem I have with these “secret developer articles” is that it can be used as a veiled means to perpetuate negative propaganda without any journalistic accountability to EG readers.

Say that, I do however feel this article reads like it comes from some self entitled developer, expecting to throw any shite on a console and get a financial return. I say that mostly because of the false technical assertions made within the article, the fact that all PS4/X1 games are also semi functional because of the online paywall and the direct comparison I can make of gameplay/fun with the WiiU games I have and the Ps3 or Ps4. I also like the fact that nintendo look at networking from a fresh perspective going back to the source concept. Much like copying someone else's drawing can only ever result in an inferior copy of the original.

But back on technical specs. A superbly envisaged games will look beautiful and be great fun to play on WiiU technical specs. If that developer can't offer that to wiiu customers, then they probably aren't offering that to PS3/360, PC, Ps4/X1 customers either and are getting money for old rope. Maybe they need to think of getting a different job or listen to the alarm bells telling them to sort their shit out.

thalesnunesm
8 months ago
I really don't believe in this kind of article. I mean, there are many developers that went public and said that development for the Wii U was very easy and we're seeing even Kickstarter games coming to the console. So, why would I trust an anonymous source that says otherwise?

EAExposed
8 months ago
@Vlad27145

Clearly you have never played Wonderful 101, and sorry but there is an obvious reason why you didn't list an examples of a game with a "deep" story probably because you know what you're saying is BS already.

Also TW101 has extremely deep mechanics, of course you don't know that because you didn't play it. Actually since you admitted you didn't play any of these games (instead you played past games similar to them) you don't know how deep their mechanics are or what changed, instead you're going off a face value judgement which is ignorant to say the least.

Also, if you find a game like The Last of Us complex or thought provoking, you either don't play many games or don't read a lot of stories. But hey maybe that game isn't your standard for a good story, maybe it's Shadow of the Colossus which didn't have that deep of mechanics and the controls were iffy anyways and the story wasn't all the special either, typical guy makes deal with dark god to save girl story.

Ok ok maybe neither of them were your standard. But don't say it's Call of Duty or Battlefield, those are so predictable storywise and so simple mechanics wise that almost anyone can pick it up at any time and know how to play and the story they would guess by looking at the box cover.

No? Don't say it's some JRPG, those are essentially all alike since the late PS2/GC/Xbox era.

Nah, you'll say it's some indie game that is more an interactive story and less a game, similar to Telltales' games.

Did I cover all the bases or you going to give me another excuse? You're just some dude-bro fanboy, not an actual gamer.

omarmarshall
8 months ago
That whole article read like a Wii U hater from some internet message board summing up first year Wii U history, and filling in the holes with everything bad, negative, or lowest common denominator, imaginable.

Another reason I think it's bullshit? The guy speaks so casually of the Nondisclosure agreements he supposedly had to sign as he supposedly breaks them, even as they hold his balls/career in a vice. Then he goes on later to talk about how Renesas personally told him that the GPU die was 55nm. If this were true, then the most inept investigator would have already exposed this guy to Nintendo, and we'd already be reading stories about him being sued.

Whoever wrote that trash tried a little too hard to sound legit, even amidst that much nonsense, and wrote themselves into a corner.

Pathetic.

Kehool
8 months ago
@dogmanstaruk but why does he want to stay anonymous? surely anyone in his team, and thus the guys higher up, will already know by the descriptions that it was him making this interview so what's the point of staying anonymous?

edwincarp
8 months ago
Well how nice it is of someone to take the trouble and time to write about how the Wii U is a failure. The Wii U is a failure! The Wii U is a failure! I'm not in denial, I don't have an opinion. Ok so it's a great article and well done to the writer "the secret developer" for taking the time to write it, but the truth is that when we witness articles of this size and scope, all focusing on mostly negatives, we're left fishing for a conclusion in this whole 'power struggle' and so I really think we should just take a step back and stop turning conclusions and ideas into something that they're not, by over-dramatizing things. Just learn to be objective about it; there is no definite future but the one that is determined by the consumer, and Nintendo have all the tools and icons/characters/developer talent/ friendly environments (to the developers' discretion) that they need for a future next gen round. The industry has been partly shaped by Nintendo, perhaps even wholly, and developers will always have setbacks.
But on another note: the Wii U is selling now, and it has better games than the Xbox One and PS4.

Stop the bullshit and appreciate gaming for gaming.

[I'm a Puppy!]

How in the hell is that article suspect?
Nintendo shunned online stuff for a decade.
Then when they realize that "oh crap, we can't keep ignoring this!" and are trying to catch up and it's a  mess? Hell, I'd say such stuff is EXPECTED.

[thisismyusername]

Smells like 'オヤジ'.

*Google Translate*

Smells like... "Father"? 

[Rufus]

"Oyaji" means "old man" and has different connotations, being stuck in their old ways for one.

[chronovore]

I think them being a domestically-focused "traditional" Japanese company is a lot more instructive as to their behavior.  Stubborn and myopic to a dangerous degree.

Oh, hey, I've been searching for a concise way to describe my decade-plus here. Thanks for that.

[chronovore]

Smells like 'オヤジ'.

*Google Translate*

Smells like... "Father"? 

Picture more of a patriarch, the type who feels that they are in charge, and no-one has any right to question their authority -- but is also largely non-communicative and has a mood range which varies between "sullen" and "angry."

[a slime appears]

Chronovore is an oyaji, desu. 

[chronovore]

Chronovore is an oyaji, desu. 

I am so, so oyaji. Even my jokes are oyaji.