Console Makers Worry Over Apple's Growing Competition 281
The NY Times is running a story about the effect Apple is having on the console gaming market, making Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo worry that consumers will be satisfied playing games on devices that aren't necessarily focused on gaming. Quoting:
"The concerns highlight an accelerating shift away from hard-core games, which have traditionally driven console sales, to more casual ones played on cellphones. Of the 758 new game titles shown at the Tokyo Game Show, 168 were for cellphone platforms — more than twice as many as in the previous year. ... Apple's assault could even eat into sales of home consoles like Nintendo's Wii, Sony's PlayStation 3 or Microsoft's XBox, as game-playing quickly becomes centered on cellphones. Many in the industry say that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft need to explore more radical changes to their businesses, including an emphasis on software rather than hardware and a better way for users to download games. 'As a platform, the cellphone has the biggest potential, because everybody owns one,' said Kazumi Kitaue, chief executive at another game maker, Konami Digital Entertainment. A family with three children might buy just one Wii or PlayStation to share, but those children will probably have cellphones of their own and download and play games, Mr. Kitaue said."
We're doomed!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:We're doomed!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I only wish my bank account was as doomed as Nintendo's must be right now.
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:2, Insightful)
How does an iPhone compete with an XBox 360 or a PS 3 as the summary implies? It doesn't.
An iPhone at best competes with a DS, and even then, it's a sad comparison. It only really works if you put on your iPose blinders.
You don't even need to read the summary to see that this article is totally retarded.
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, have any of these people actually played any games on it? They are uniformly quite terrible. The lack of physical buttons is simply too big of an obstacle. Sure you can do some interesting stuff with the accelerometer, but at some point you want to be able to mash some buttons to kill the baddies and the in this regard the iPhone simply sucks ass.
You're obviously not the target demographic. I'm guessing that, in other discussions, you've said similar things regarding perceived shortcomings with the Wii.
The target demographic that's mainly interested in "mash[ing] some buttons to kill the baddies" is the group that's currently buying XBox 360s and Playstation 3s - and, based on sales, it's pretty obvious it's a significantly smaller group than the group buying the Wii and/or interested in playing short games that you can pick up for a short while and set down afterward. And, in the end, overall sales is really pretty much the only thing any of these companies care about.
I am not meaning (or attempting) to demean your opinion. I'm just pointing out that it's unlikely you're a reflection of the audience Apple is after.
Also (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the iPhone have many (any?) games that aren't of the simple silly cellphone variety? While there's a market for games like that, no doubt, there is also very clearly a market for games with more depth to them. Some of the top selling games are ones that have a good deal of complexity to them (the Sims being a great example), not the sort of thing that competes with a cellphone game.
Also, as you noted, the iPhone really isn't a competitor for a console just based off of the fact that it is a handheld. So while it might be a competitor for the DS and PSP, I don't see it making inroads in to the console market. People do not get handhelds to replace consoles. I have never met someone who has said "I got a DS so that I wouldn't have to get a Wii or 360." No, they get the handheld to play when they aren't at home. They don't get it to replace their console.
However even in the handheld market, it seems at this time that the iPhone doesn't have the games to be any real threat. While it may have some bigger games, a good many of its games are of the same, simple, cellphone variety we've seen in the past. Nothing wrong with that, and indeed probably what you want on a cell since it is the kind of thing to play for 15 minutes while waiting for the doctor. However that isn't the same market as people who want a game they can really get in to and play for longer periods of time.
Part of the problem I think is that there is this misperception in the media that casual games are taking people away from more involved games. They seem to have this idea that there are all these people who played very complicated games because they had to, and now, freed from that tyranny, have moved on to simple games. No, not so much. The people who are gamers and like complex games still play them. They continue to sell in ever increasing numbers. Rather what has happened is people who were not interested in games are now playing games because the casual games appeal to them. They don't want "hardcore" games, but a casual game is some occasional fun.
What that means is that the casual market does not cut in to the hardcore market. They are different groups. If anything, the hardcore market cuts in to the casual market, as some people start on the casual games, discover they are in fact a gamer and just didn't know it, and start buying more games.
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:2, Insightful)
It is not the quality of the platform in question but rather the developer mindshare. iPhone is building up greater mindshare so more developers will aim for that platform. It does not matter how good your console is if nobody makes games for it.
False Dichotomy (Score:2, Insightful)
The real important facts are the one's that this article leaves out, like that in 2008, only 462 total games [videogamesblogger.com] were shown, where as this year, 758 new games where shown. This is an increase of 62%! So in reality, Cellphone games have only increased 40% compared to the rest of new video games. A 40% increase, while large, is nothing to worry too much about, as the cellphone market is very immature; not very many cell phones can actually play games, vendors still lock-in most cell phones.
This is article is just a standard journalistic technique of creating a story where none exists.
They'd better not (Score:3, Insightful)
including an emphasis on software rather than hardware
They'd better not, because that's where their competitive advantage is. The only reason anyone would play on a console instead of on their phone is because of the hardware (including bigger screen, the controllers, etc). If they focus only on software, then eventually any type of software that can be made for a console can be made for a phone.
Re:Also (Score:4, Insightful)
Myst for the iPhone [cyanworlds.com]
Re:Also (Score:3, Insightful)
Then I realized I could get a DS + GAMES GAMES GAMES for much less than the PS3 + No Games. I've not regretted it.
But then, I'm also happy with the Wii I bought myself for Christmas last year, and RockBand2 I purchased last week (it's way cheap cause they're making room for RB: Beatles). I've not missed having any of the NextGen Consoles, even those they look simply fabulous.
I think what people are seeing is that CellPhones are becomming commonplace (much as the PC is), and there's a market of people who might, when bored or excited about their awesome phone, spend 5$ or so to try a new game. You can buy a lot of games on the Iphone for the same price as a single Xbox360 game, after all.
So no, not the same market.
--Jimmy
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:5, Insightful)
If I want a great multiplayer strategy game with complex rules and takes a lot of time to learn, I'll play that on my PC or Mac, if I want to blow a couple of hours in a racecar or fragging aliens in an FPS, then my console is pretty good at that. If I am on the bus and have 30 minutes, I might play Assasins Creed or bejewled on the iPhone. (or listen to a podcast, or watch a TV episode, or listen to music etc)
Sometimes I even play board games with my kids and soccer outside. All sorts of games have their place and I hope none of them goes away.
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:3, Insightful)
By taking away market share. It's the same way bicycles compete with cars, not the way BMW competes with Kia.
If you already have a gaming system in your pocket. Games cost $0.99-$10, and they're all 'fun' there will be a certain segment of the population that used to get a 360 that will just stick with the phone. Just as there are certain people who swear by PC gaming as being the 'best' because you can use your 105-key keyboard.
Now extend that a bit further. You now have a TON of developers that know the ins and outs of Cocoa programming, OpenGL (for the 3GS), etc.
Imagine a MMO where you can play at home on OS X, but when you go on the road, hop online for some 'short missions' or so.
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:2, Insightful)
So wait, you're saying the iPhone market is like the video game market, pre crash of 1983?
I'm talking about where tons of speculators hopped in the market to cash in on the hype and ended up creating a bubble that popped, causing an angry babylonian god to appear and wipe out over half the industry?
That's not like the iPhone market at all! It's all about quality and craftsmanship!
Re:New Kind of Gamer (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:3, Insightful)
Bathroom market (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:5, Insightful)
As someone who has been a gamer for a few decades now, as well as a happy iPhone owner, I can attest to the fact that the iPhone does indeed do video games well. That said, it obviously can't handle the same sorts of gameplay that consoles can handle, and, conversely, it can handle some gameplay that consoles are poorly-built to handle.
Consider Zen Bound [zenbound.com]. It's certainly a casual game, but the premise (using your fingers to rotate a 3D block of wood or metal in order to wrap a rope around as much of the shape as possible...just look at the video at the link) simply doesn't work well on any of the consoles at the moment. I was skeptical at first, but once I saw a few gameplay videos and then got my hands on it, I was sold; the game demonstrates a new form of play and is remarkably entertaining for such a simple concept
Or consider a game like Eliss [toucheliss.com]. Again, remarkably entertaining and yet incredibly simple in concept and execution. Both of these rely heavily on a multitouch interface (Eliss in particular) that none of the other consoles or handheld game devices could possibly hope to match (neither of these have a chance of working on the DS or Wii). When iPhone developers play to the iPhone's strengths, it really shines. When they try to shoehorn gameplay that was made for an entirely different medium, such as a console, into the device, it shows (and it usually sucks).
Really, it all comes back to what it has always been about: making games fun. Quite a few of the developers and console makers have gotten caught up in the shinier graphics, yearly releases on spent franchises, and other such nonsense that they've forgotten what real gamers (read: not "frat bros") want, which is to have a fun time. 8-bit games weren't fun in spite of the graphics. Rather, the only thing that the developers could feasibly work on to differentiate themselves was the gameplay of their product, so they were forced to innovate if they wanted to produce sales, and we saw quite a few brilliant and entertaining examples of new gameplay from that generation. The introduction of 3D with the 64-bit era really changed the game as well, since it allowed for new forms of gameplay, but since then, the industry has stagnated and very little has really changed in terms of the types of gameplay that we can expect.
The iPhone, for all of its foibles and drawbacks, is offering developers a chance to get in on the ground floor with something that's fresh, different, and entirely game-changing. And I'm not talking about the iPhone itself, but rather about multitouch. I honestly believe that multitouch has the potential to provide a more entertaining interface than that of any current console, so while the iPhone may be relegated to "casual" games for now (and it is), it certainly has the potential to explode in the "hardcore" market if a few hardcore titles showcasing multitouch come out. What those titles would be, I have no idea, otherwise I'd be building it now to make my millions.
Re:Just to put this in perspective (Score:5, Insightful)
Based on every other product Apple has ever produced, a game console from them would be sleek, stylish, cost in excess of $900.00 (us), have only 3 titles available(each of which would require you to repurchase the title when a patch came out), and a controller with only button. Of course it would have an alternate means to use the button, but it would require you to press the option button on the console itself while trying to press the controller button.
That is the iPhone.
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:4, Insightful)
They make little to no money (and even lose money often) on the hardware itself. They make money because each title sold pays a license fee. It also indicates how well the owners like their gaming experience over all.
The wii was making profit on the hardware from day one, they only just now lowered the retail price three years after it's initial release.. they have been making lots off hardware alone
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, open sourced games. Both of those were commercial at first and only opened later, those games have paid professionals working on their creation. Most unpaid open source games are horribly derivative and usually ugly and unintuitive.
Re:Also (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the iPhone have many (any?) games that aren't of the simple silly cellphone variety? While there's a market for games like that, no doubt, there is also very clearly a market for games with more depth to them. Some of the top selling games are ones that have a good deal of complexity to them (the Sims being a great example), not the sort of thing that competes with a cellphone game.
Simple answer, yes, big games companies are developing big games for it. When you put a machine more powerful than a wii in a box the size of a PSP, that happens.
Also, as you noted, the iPhone really isn't a competitor for a console just based off of the fact that it is a handheld. So while it might be a competitor for the DS and PSP, I don't see it making inroads in to the console market. People do not get handhelds to replace consoles. I have never met someone who has said "I got a DS so that I wouldn't have to get a Wii or 360." No, they get the handheld to play when they aren't at home. They don't get it to replace their console.
The DS and PSP are surprise surprise... Consoles. Also, I bet what these companies are *really* worried about is apple releasing an AppleTV that's a little more powerful, and can talk to an app store.
However even in the handheld market, it seems at this time that the iPhone doesn't have the games to be any real threat....
You're making a blind assumption. Go look at the app store before doing that.
Basically, your entire post seems to be based around a mistaken idea that the iPhone doesn't actually have any more/more complex games than the average cell phone. This is not true.
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not about mindshare, it's about return on investment. A competent developer working with a competent artist can produce a successful flash game or an iPhone game in a month or two. Producing a PC or console game takes a few hundred people a year or two. A console game needs a thousand times more income to break even, but only sells for ten times more than an iPhone game so you need to sell a hundred times more of the console game for the same ROI. If you can sell an iPhone game to a tenth of the people you would have sold a console game to, you've made a better return, so that's a better place to put your investment.
This isn't really an Apple phenomenon. Lots of people were playing games on their phones before the iPhone came along, but the bigger screen of the iPhone and same-generation devices makes them a lot more attractive for games (ignore the touchscreen; it just changes the type of games you can play easily). Flash games were already starting to push this trend a little. Companies like PopCap have been raking in the cash for quite a few years. Their games cost a tiny fraction of what something like Spore costs to make, sell for a couple of dollars, and are bought by a very large number of people.
Even ignoring the sales, look at the ad-supported versions. I just looked at some numbers from a flash gaming site. Their popular games have around 10m plays. One that went up this week and is rated 5.4/10 (the lowest I've ever seen was 4.6/10, so that means very bad) has 200,000 plays. Each of these games shows an ad when it is launched, and is on a page containing ads. If they get 1Â per play from the ads then that works out at $100k for a good game and $2k for a bad game in the first week. And, remember, these games are not exclusive to this site. Even if they only get 0.1Â per play, these numbers are probably about right for the whole Internet, because the games show up on a lot of different sites with similar player figures. Each of these games looks like about a month's worth of work, at most. A few look like they could have been put together in an afternoon. Seen any console games with that kind of ROI recently?
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:2, Insightful)
People always keep claiming that the Wii audience is fickle but there is no evidence to support it (the dropping sales? I wouldn't call dropping sales due to no major games for over a year fickle).
Re:Competition from What??? (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because they're now shitty cell phone games with touchscreen interfaces and slightly better graphics doesn't mean that they'll make even the slightest dent in actual console sales.
Bang on. When did this become a zero-sum game, anyway? As innumerable posters have pointed out, console games and cell phone games are NOT the same thing, used by the same people at the same kinds of times. There's a new emerging market as cell phones develop a modicum of processing power and screen size. Now we have another platform for gaming. That doesn't mean the old one will go away.
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:2, Insightful)
It'd be nice to see people move away from playing consoles in general, just so that the quality of games can go back up. If you take notice, the quality of video games has been quick declining ever since it became a more popular pastime with the original Playstation. The less stupid people playing these games, the less justification there is to push out bad ones catering to them.
Re:Except that the iPhone is a TERRIBLE game machi (Score:3, Insightful)
Even now, it's ten times easier for a group to join a random server than it is to join a specific one.
Re:Through the looking glass. (Score:2, Insightful)