"No Real Need" for Consoles

[Shrygue]

via Edge Online


On message boards, naysayers have been claiming for years that PC gaming is "doomed."

But John Welch, CEO and co-founder of Diner Dash house PlayFirst says it's the other way around.

"...I think the console is going to be over as we knew it previously. They’re expensive to make, there is no real need for them," he told Venture Beat.

As the head of a business based on mass market online PC gaming, he's convinced that the hardcore console gamer is increasingly a niche audience.

Ironically, he pointed to the massive success of the Nintendo Wii as proof that console gaming is on its last leg.

"I think the biggest proof point in the death of consoles in my thesis is the Wii," he said. "The most successful, most difficult to acquire console in this generation is at least a generation old in hardware.

"The advances are in software and peripherals. Why do you need a box for that? If the real expansion is occurring because of what Nintendo has done, why do we even need a console?"

He said that technology on par with the Wii's could be implemented in "your average set top box."

Welch continued, "How much would it cost to integrate Wii-like technology into a set top box, if anything even needs to be specialized? What we really need are more standards around the input devices."

Welch's comments are in line with those of fellow online exec Alex St. John, the head of WildTangent.

“The console era is fading rapidly because graphics are no longer the differentiator: people are looking for other things like community or new types of input," St. John recently told Edge.

[trugamer]

Thats one helluva set top box.

Seriously though I think he's wrong. The majority of people aren't as "hardcore" as they like to think, and thats why they're satisfied with the lower performance of the xbox/ps3 for the convenience of no installations, incompatibility etc.

There is also developer support to consider, people tend to go for consoles for the games, and developers decide to go for the hacker/piracy (relatively) free options of consoles.

Finally there's value for money, if Sony and Ms are losing money on hardware you're clearly getting more than the same amount of money spent on a pc.

I do think Pc gaming is superior to console gaming though.

[goshogun1]

Well John, I have "no real need" for Diner Dash. Hows that?!
Judging from the sales of XBOX360, those supposed hardcore gamers are still buying stuff. Hardly a niche.

[mistac]

I much prefer consoles to gaming on the PC. That's not to say I've not played games on my PC but I just find consoles to be a lot less hassle.

I want to drop a game into the machine and get playing. I'm willing to take lesser graphics as long as playability is good. I don't want to be installing the latest patches from the game manufacturer, or the latest drivers from ATI or Nvidia, or worry about DirectX9/10.

I wouldn't say consoles are niché but instead a preference, just like DS or PSP, iPod or Zen or Tea or Coffee. From either side of the fence I wish people like John Welch could just accept that as individuals we have individual preferences and we don't need to be constantly told that consoles are better than PCs for gaming, and vice versa.

[Lastron]

I think the reason the wii is so populour is the gameplay, maybie? Why would people buy it cos its worse?

[alanparker05]

I really dislike playing games on pc... if you want to play games that can match a console you looking to spend at least 6 times the cost of xbox 360, and there's all the hassle of compatability... the only time i play on pc is on dreamcast emulator nulldc, and a hacked console can offer a lot of the extra features you normally need a pc for

[Mc_Logical]

Consoles also relate better to a wider range of people, the console won't die for a long time, so go stick a dildo up your ass mr article person sir lol

[osgeld]

i always disagree with the person who says "it cost x times as much to get y console quality" out of their pc, in fact it usually takes about the same

i enjoy playing games on my nearly 3 year old pc, why? because i cannot afford a 360 / ps3, and why bother cause in most cases my pc will do mostly the same job

not trying to start an argument, but if my 1.9ghz athlon xp, 1 gig of ram and a bfg geforce 6600GT can run NFS carbon @ 1280x1024 @ ~50 fps, what the hell is wrong with your pc it sucks soooo bad it cant bitch slap a 360

now t o the article...

they have always been expensive, the goal is to sell at a loss, and make it up in software sales so you can beat the other guys

As the head of a business based on mass market online PC gaming

as the head of an imaginary blah blah blah ... online pc gaming is more of a niche market, one either try to sell someone a service that noone needs, or your a mmo

doesnt sound like someone id be reporting an opinion about future trends to me

also he doesnt have much of a clue, sure the wii is basicly a juiced up gamepube, but its using this gens hardware

its also not that hard to acquire, dunno where he got his stats but its not xmas 2007 any more

also your "average set top box" barley has any cpu power in it, a lot out there barley need more than a 32 bit 33mhz cpu, with a dedicated video codec, its akin to a cd player, so is he suggesting that we can do wii quality on a playstation, or double the cost of already expensive "set top boxes" to add functionality that only a margin of the users would actually ever think about wanting

Welch's comments are in line with those of fellow online exec Alex St. John, the head of WildTangent

wow Wild Tangent, that crap is still around? theres someone who NAILED the future ... of viruses and spy ware, while taking forever to deliver "on demand" barley better than n64 homebrew

sigh

[Veskgar]

No need for consoles? Nonsense! I will always be a console guy. I never liked PC gaming and will always prefer having consoles. Ever since having an NES I've felt that way.

[Eviltaco64]

I'll stick to consoles.
If they die, then I stop playing.