Square Enix: Consoles set for extinction

[wraggster]

Yoichi Wada says trade must prepare for switch to digital distribution and server-based games
Square Enix chief Yoichi Wada is preparing his firm for the demise of physical media – and potentially the death of home consoles.
In an exclusive interview with MCV that will be published next week, the CEO of the publisher – which now owns Eidos and is famous for its epic disc-based Final Fantasy games – said that a dramatic change will come in the next decade offering more opportunity for market growth, but fundamentally transforming the traditional industry.
“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” he said.
Wada warned that “all the distributors and sales firms will suffer a big negative impact” from a new era in which interactive entertainment switches from software run on hardware in the home to server-based offerings, game streaming and digital distribution.
He claimed that format-holders including Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the shift – and that third-parties must follow suit.

“Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers’ strategy shifted,” he said.
“In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network. A time will come when the hardware isn’t even needed anymore.
“With that, any kind of terminal becomes a potential platform on which games can be played – that’s exponential growth in the potential of gaming. The potential size of the market is enormous.”
He explained that Square Enix is preparing for this change by ramping up production of social and browser games at its Japanese studios, and also closely monitoring 2010’s beta roll-out of PS3 MMO Final Fantasy XIV.
“Social and browser games are going to grow dramatically – especially in areas like Asia which does not have as big a console market,” he said.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36665/Square-Enix-Consoles-set-for-extinction

[XDelusion]

Might as well go Big Brother, that's what all this is about anyhow.

Well that and Brave New World Psy-Ops through entertainment. ;)

[Hypershell]

"Might as well go Big Brother, that's what all this is about anyhow."

An excellent sum-up, and a big reason why I'm not that into digital distribution. With physical media, the provider is only involved up until the store, and after that, you're on your own. Which means you can do with the game as you see fit. You can play it as long as the hardware continues to function, wherever you want, however you want.

With digital distribution, the manufacturer maintains a hold on their product as you play it. If they're respectful, responsible, and long-lived, that's no problem. But that's a lot of "if"s. Most tend to over-state legal rights in an effort to make sure their customers play by their rules, and digital distribution allows them to enforce pretty much whatever they want (no hacks, no trading used games, no bringing your game to a friend's house, etc.).

It's not that I don't believe digital distribution and community gaming can be good things, many times they are. But I don't believe they solely should dominate the market, nor do I believe they are without downsides. Browsing an online selection is a lot more time consuming and frankly boring than browsing an actual store (Nintendo has previously made note of the fact that thus far digital distribution is usually something you only look to when you already know what you want to buy, and they're not keen on that). Furthermore, elimination of used sales means that legitimate distribution of the game ceases to exist completely the moment the provider decides to free up some room on their servers (consider that in the real world, not every game worth playing becomes a financial success). In the case of server-driven games, the ability to play them at all is gone. How would you have liked it if when Sega went out of the console business your copies of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, NiGHTS, etc. ceased to function? I don't enjoy the thought of a passtime that heavily dependent on the manufacturer.

And I think community gaming and network-enhanced gaming is a great thing. But there are some genres that are really ill-suited to the whole network mentality, and a lot of companies that will view such a structure as a cop-out for more money and nothing more. Look at MegaMan 9. The so-called "downloadable content" was all developed pre-release and is only an excuse to charge more money than the game is actually advertised at. There are no further expansions for it being developed. The game features leaderboards, irrelevant unless you're insane enough to have hit the Top 10 worldwide, and an X-Box-esque "achievement system" which does nothing but tell you what feats the game developers do and don't feel is worth celebrating (clearing a Robot Masters helmetless gets you a mention, clearing Wily's Castle helmetless does not). Call me crazy but neither of those really mean jack to me.

[mmochel]

I am in complete agreement with the above post.
This is the major reason I do not play mmorpgs, because when it goes offline you can never play it again. Then all the time and energy you put into it is gone.
On top of that is the fact that if it is all online
you have no power over the game, you cannot take it anywhere you cannot use hacks or cheats, and if the company decides to ban you for any reason you are fragged.