February 25th 2024.
Have they caused harm or are they responsible for any wrongdoing? That's the question that has been troubling me lately, as I look at the current state of Sony and Microsoft. As a reader, I am deeply concerned that these companies are willing to let console gaming slowly fade away instead of taking steps to improve it.
It has been a rather disheartening week, and not just because of the gloomy weather. Aside from the news of potential delays for the Switch 2, the ongoing discussions about Xbox and PlayStation becoming multi-platform have left me anxious about the future of the gaming industry. The similarities to the 1983 crash in the US only add to my worries.
Back then, the market was flooded with cheaply made, low-quality games, leading to the decline of the industry. Now, the problem is the exact opposite: there are not enough high-quality games being produced, and companies are unable to afford the high costs of development. Strangely enough, this issue seems to be mostly prevalent in the American market, while Japan remains unaffected due to their more reasonable game budgets.
As GameCentral has pointed out, Xbox and PlayStation seem to be in denial about the root cause of the problem – the ever-increasing budget and time required to make modern games. Most large developers can only produce one or two new games per generation, and instead of addressing this issue, both companies have taken a drastic step by making their exclusives available on multiple platforms.
While the idea of not having to buy multiple consoles for exclusive games may seem appealing, I doubt that many of these exclusives would receive the same level of funding and attention if they were not marketed as a killer app for their respective consoles.
To me, the obvious solution would be to cap game budgets or focus on creating more mid-budget AA titles for Xbox and PlayStation, with the occasional big-budget game every once in a while. Another option could be to produce more spin-off games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but it seems clear that this is not something either company is willing to do.
Instead of trying to find a solution, both Sony and Microsoft seem to have given up on the traditional console market altogether. They are throwing the baby out with the bathwater by making their exclusives available on multiple platforms, essentially erasing the difference between their consoles. Sony's focus on live service games and neglect of single-player experiences only adds to my disappointment.
I am struggling to see where console gaming is headed from here. Nintendo will most likely survive, as they always do, but Xbox and PlayStation seem to be unwilling to follow their lead, despite Nintendo's better preparation for the future.
It seems that both companies are willing to let the console market die rather than compromise on the budget of their games. I cannot fathom why they would make such extreme changes, but it is clear that they are no longer interested in maintaining the status quo.
At the same time, both companies have recently reported reduced profits and are now talking about expanding into live service games and mobile gaming, rather than focusing on consoles. I cannot help but wonder if even PC gaming will survive in the future, especially with the rise of game streaming. The poor management of consoles and their exclusive games has led to this crisis, and neither Xbox nor PlayStation seem willing to do anything about it.
If not for Nintendo and the upcoming Switch 2, my view of the future of gaming would be overwhelmingly negative. However, the outlook is still grim. The year 2023 was an incredible year for gaming, but 2024 is already shaping up to be one of the worst, and I fear that things will only get worse after that, especially for Xbox and PlayStation.
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