In the world of technology, where change is the only constant, companies need to adapt or become obsolete. We are experiencing a gaming environment where the end user’s demands are starting to weigh more than just delivering the next AAA title.
DSOGaming writes: "As a current topic on game industry lips, it is no surprise that gaming veteran, Codemasters’ co-founder David Darling CBE, has revealed his thoughts about the digital revolution and the fall of game consoles. Darling wrote his article last night on the website of his new mobile gaming company, Kwalee, labeling games consoles as “old fashioned”."
What 'fall of games consoles'?
I'm hating this trend of 'I just opened a mobile gaming company to produce worthless crap so I better bash games consoles'.
Gaming consoles are more popular than they've ever been and that won't change overnight. Cloud gaming is a nice thought but at the moment it won't traditional consoles. It isn't there yet.
I'd give console one more gen before Cloud takes over. The tech is the problem at the moment, Gaikai and Onlive etc. Just not good enough.
It will take over Physical when it's good enough, Publishers won't exactly want that but Meh, Indies are slowly starting their revolt. Eventually the games market will crash and Indies will rewrite it, just like the movies industry. It's an unfortunate trend in the Entertainment Business.
I'd say Downloads will take over before Cloud does though, or come along with it. Steam has paved the way, and while Onlive was seemingly a bad idea, Sony just picked up a Cloud based service...which makes Cloud based gaming somehow better/
Reliability of owning a physical disk is well....it's a mediocre reason to be brutally honest. I would go so far as to say its a fanboy defense. Ask Steam users how bad this is. Console gamers will accept it gracefully when it's ready, because it simply is more convenient to need no disks, have terrabytes of space with simply looking at our list of games and clicking into them.
Edit---On another point it's convenient. The casual market will eat it up.
I don't care how advance cloud gets, I prefer the reliability of owning a physical disc.
And I'm not into downloads either.
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I might download a few smaller games...But I'm not trying to have MASSIVE amounts of hdd space for dozens bluray sized games.
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I also like being able to buy used games and sell or trade them.
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Cloud and digital isn't bad for those who want the option, but I don't think it will push aside physical. At most they will coexist in the same systems.
The thing is, this isn't about you. It isn't about the two people that agreed with you either, or the countless people that would within the core crowd.
Developers are looking for ways to save money and control piracy and cloud gaming is perfect for that. As soon as internet connections and HD space catch up to the point where it's viable for the average person, there's no reason to keep releasing physical copies.
Sure, a few people will complain, say that they'd prefer physical copies. Ultimately though they'll be forced to download, play on the cloud or not play at all. The vast majority of people who say they'd pick that last option are lying.
A lot of people are just fearful of change. I totally understand why many still prefer boxed games. Lots of people still like to read books the old fashioned way. Still the market is heading to buying books online and reading them with e-readers and tablets and the same thing will happen with videogames.
Cost and convenience will eventually outweigh the need for boxed games. Look at what's happend with PC games. Millions are now sold on Amazon, Steam, Desura and other places. What's the percentage now of people who actually buy mucis CD's compred to online stores like ITunes? It's getting hard to even find a place to rent DVD's and BLURAYs now.
Some games can only be bought online even now. EA expects it to be fully digital sooner rather than later.
LoL... Codemasters
They have yet to make a console game that comes close to pushing any of the current hardware so David Darling needs to STFU.
@ PHOSADRA
Hell yeah!!! Physical media FTW. I don't care if they offer downloads, but I still want to be able to buy my retail disc... especially if the hardware manufacturer forces you to use their overpriced storage devices.
I too prefer physical media over digital. And no it does not bother me to get up and change the game if I want to play something different.
Brick and mortar I'd mainly use to get an overview of what's going down, but I haven't used it to procure titles in a long time. And the overview is just in case I missed something in the online scene...
I think you cannot ignore the fact that more and more is going digital, which should rightly drive the cost of the content down as we avoid expensive printing, shipping and shelving costs. Hehe, the reduction in air freighting games all over the world should help that carbon footprint thing.
I agree bosbvok, with digital sales and thing prices should go down in accordance to how much companies save from no packaging and printing and even shipping costs and storage. So much is saved from digital sales other than the price of the servers to run the digital services.
But yet, the end user aint seeing this reduction in cost, especially with the mainstream games
I agree digital is a vital option but these publishers need to lower their prices.
There is no reason why they should be charging $60 for games and I find it an insult that 6+ months out you still charge $60 for a digital title.