Sony, Microsoft Squabble Over Console Features, But the Real Opponent Is Apple

Nerval's Lobster writes "Now that Microsoft and Sony have unveiled their respective next-generation gaming consoles, the two companies have cheerfully resorted to firing broadsides at each other. Whether the current brouhaha has any effect on sales of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 (if hardcore gamers keep complaining, they may even convince Microsoft to knock $100 off the new Xbox and bring its pricing down to the PS4's level), it's also drowning out what many perceive as the real issue: gaming consoles face an existential threat from mobile devices, most notably those running iOS (with some threat from Android). First, there are signs that the hardcore gamer market is soft: console sales in the United States dropped 21 percent in 2012, and sales of new video-game cartridges haven't fared much better. Second, PC/console games such as X-Com have begun appearing on iOS; if that trend continues, the console companies will have more rivals to fight against. Third, Apple is developing a game controller for iOS which could make it an even more dedicated opponent — and convince other tech companies to follow in its footsteps. But don't tell any of that to Microsoft and Sony, which seem content to fire at each other."

Re:Lol wut?

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't compete directly; the point is the future may be 10-20 million "hardcore gamers" and a billion on phones and tablets. Especially outside the first world. Game companies follow the money/customers. Apple is selling over a half billion dollars of games every month.

I think I saw a gamasutra article listing market sizes as mobile > console > social > PC

If you are not a multinational company, if you are funding / developing a new game, it is increasing going to be Mobile. Regardless of how the ranking of XB, PS4 and PC turn out, they will all be trailing mobile.

Re:Vaporware...

[DJRumpy]

Three things to consider. New hardware releases for these iOS devices hit every 12-18 months, with moderate to substantial gains in processing and graphics power. Couple that with cheap digital games costing a fraction of console prices, and simple portability from one iOS device to the next, even when going to an entirely new device, or even from a phone to a pad, and the appeal could definitely be there.

Re:Vaporware...

[hahn]

It doesn't need to be as powerful as a console level graphics. This same argument was applied to how iPhone cameras couldn't compete with full frame sensor DSLR's. It didn't need to: http://www.flickr.com/cameras [flickr.com] Hardcore gamers make the mistake in assuming that everyone who buys a console has the same requirement for graphics power as they do. It's quite the contrary. I know at least 7 friends as well as myself who have PS3's that sit there and collect dust. We originally bought it for FIFA 2010. Then we started to use it a lot more for Netflix when that became available. And now that all the TV's have Netflix built in (and 4 of us have Apple TV's), the PS3 never gets touched. We were all just talking about this a couple of weeks ago - none of us have plans to get any of the new consoles. They're simply not worth it for us. And I somehow doubt our situation is unique, or even rare.

Re: Apple?

[jd2112]

Rovio would disagree.

Re:Lol wut?

[Bogtha]

I suppose someone will chime in suggesting they mean the Apple TV which could be a valid point, except the market penetration of those are MUCH smaller, and the fact that they do not have any AAA titles that rival the competitors.

The market penetration is low because, right now, it's just a vehicle to play iTunes content on your television. They do not have any AAA titles because Apple hasn't opened up the SDK yet. Apple TVs run iOS internally and are roughly as powerful as their mobile devices.

Now that officially-blessed game controllers are coming to iOS 7, all Apple really have to do is open up the SDK, which will be very similar to the current iOS SDK, add internal storage, and put an App Store application on the Apple TV. Suddenly there's a ~$199 console on the market with a horde of iOS developers able to port their existing games very easily. The App Store is far easier to publish on than traditional games consoles and there's a lot of iOS developers who are champing at the bit to put their games on Apple's new game console.

Is it as powerful as the next-gen consoles? No. Can it play lots of enjoyable, cheap games with decent graphics? Yes. It doesn't have to be the most powerful console to be the most profitable console.

Re:One of these things is not like the other

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to do some research. The actual figures are:
100,000,000 (Angry Birds doesn't get to count the 982 million copies given away for free or its sequels/spin-offs, meaning this number is for Tetris [wikipedia.org]) x $1 is less than 34,010,000 [wikipedia.org] (not even gonna count Wii Sports which more than doubles Mario Kart Wii and actually was a separate purchase in Japan) x $50

In other words, just Mario Kart Wii alone is worth what the entire Angry Birds franchise would have been worth if it didn't give away so many free copies.