Xbox One ad PlayStation 4 Controller. (2013) dailytech.com
Just a few days ago Microsoft and Sony launched the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 respectively and the Wii U was launched last year. This brings the curtain to the 7th generation of gaming consoles, ‘the craziest, longest and most eventful console generation ever’ (Kohler, 2013), that leads to the next generation. But what does this actually means to the gaming industry? Given the emerging of other gaming platform and media.
The 7th generation of gaming was ought to be the best designed in history (Lehman, 2013). They paved a way to various gaming experience. The launch of Xbox 360 in 2005 brought about the era of High Definition gaming and internal memory. Then in 2006 Nintendo introduced the Wii, that showed a way the gamers to a new gaming experience with its motion controller. An in order to compete with Nintendo, Microsoft launched the Kinect, a gaming device to technically play a game without the controller. Sony respectively launched the PlayStation 3 with its high end graphic and its motion controller PlayStation Move. Looking back at the sale of the 6th generation console, the Playstation2, GameCube and Xbox combined, sold under 200 million units while PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii sold over 260 million as of today. And even after 8 years along with the introduction of the 8th generation consoles, the sale is still rising. (Kohler, 2013)
Although in the past 3 years, some people predicted that the era of gaming console is coming to an end with the introduction of mobile gaming media and other microconsole (Kelly, 2013). With the introduction of iPhone in 2006, people began to make and play and play games in the smartphone. In fact the mobile gaming is worth $33 billion as of 2010 (pok ta pok games, n.d.). Not to mention, mobile games are not only cheaper to buy but also cheaper to make compared to the AAA console games that requires at least $100 million to develop according to Jade Raymond, the head of Ubisoft Toronto (Reynold, 2013). SmartTV also begins to support gaming. There are also many other gaming devices that may replace the console such as NVDIA Shield, a powerful mobile game device and OUYA, a media box that although doesn’t support a high powered games but sells games at a low price point (Kelly, 2013). And in terms of the graphics department and gaming experience nothing beats the Personal Computer that is not only upgradable but has all the extra functionality a computer brings (Lockley, 2013).
If we take a look at the 8th generation consoles, although they are at a higher price point compared to the other gaming devices, they do deliver a very high quality game with its immersive gaming experience. The Wii U introduces the gamers to a new gaming experience using dual monitor, kind of combining both mobile device with console. While the Xbox One and PS4, not only provide the gamers with an upgraded graphics and motion detection. They are also aiming to be the only media device the consumers require by giving the consumers the ability to not only play games but also stream songs, TV, movies and even browse the internet all from their living room. (Lehman, 2013)
With the recent launch of the 8th generation of gaming, we can still see that console gaming is not dead and will still last for a long time as the companies continue to develop these consoles. With over 1 million units was sold for both the Xbox one and PS4 in less than 24 hours (Hollister, 2013) (Warren, 2013) and people would still go to extreme lengths to acquire the units (DeBolt, 2013) prove that the future of gaming will still be led by the console.
Reference
Lehman, D. (2013) ‘What the Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U Tell Us About the Future of Consoles’, Gizmodo. [online] 26 November 2013. Available at: http://gizmodo.com/what-the-xbox-one-ps4-and-wii-u-tell-us-about-the-futu-827461728 [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Lockley, G. (2013) ‘Nvidia: “PC far superior to next-gen consoles”’, The Market for Computer & Video Games UK. [online] 29 November 2013. Available at: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/nvidia-pc-far-superior-to-next-gen-consoles/0125115 [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Reynold, M. (2013) ‘Jade Raymon: Triple-A must find new ways to make money for innovation’, Digital Spy. [online] 4 August 2013. Available at: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a503631/jade-raymond-triple-a-must-find-new-ways-to-make-money-for-innovation.html [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Pok Ta Pok Games (2013) ‘7 interesting facts about the industry video games on mobile phones’. [online] n.d. Available at: http://www.poktapokgames.com/en/blog/item/11-7-interesting-facts-about-the-industry-video-games-on-mobile-phones [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Kelly, T. (2013) ‘With Ouya, GameStick, Steam Box and more, will 2013 be the year of the “microconsole”?’, EDGE. [online] 10 January 2013. Available at: http://www.edge-online.com/features/with-ouya-gamestick-steam-box-and-more-will-2013-be-the-year-of-the-microconsole/ [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Kohler, C. (2013) ‘A Fond Farewell to the Craziest, Longest, Most Eventful Console Generation Ever’, Wired. [online] 30 November 2013. Available at: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/11/longest-console-generation/all/ [Accessed 1 December 2013].
DeBolt, D. (2013) ‘San Francisco: Sale of Playstation 4 video game system turns deadly’, San Jose Mercury News. [online] 1 December 2013. Available at: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24635565/san-francisco-sale-video-game-system-turns-deadly [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Warren, T. (2013) ‘Sony sells over 1 million PlayStation 4 consoles in just 24 hours’, The Verge. [online] 17 November 2013. Available at: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/17/5113704/sony-playstation-4-1-million-sales [Accessed 1 December 2013].
Hollister, S. (2013) ‘Microsoft sells over 1 million Xbox One consoles in less than 24 hours’, The Verge. [online] 22 November 2013. Available at: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/22/5135320/microsoft-sells-over-1-million-xbox-one-consoles-in-less-than-24-hours [Accessed 1 December 2013].
List of Images
Picture of the ‘Xbox One ad PlayStation 4 Controller’, (2013) [image online] ‘Microsoft Claims Xbox One Can Make Due With Faster GPU, Less Compute Units’. Daily Tech. 7 October 2013. Available at: http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft+Claims+Xbox+One+Can+Make+Due+With+Faster+GPU+Less+Compute+Units/article33506.htm [Accessed 2 December 2013].
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