Ubisoft CEO thinks next generation of consoles will be the last

[tthurman]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ubisoft-ceo-next-game-consoles-will-be-last/

Going by the average cycle of 8 years we've still got a few years on current gen.  That puts next-gen EOL around 2028 ish.  

Perhaps not so far of a stretch.

Still, I believe consoles like the Switch will define future console designs.

I just don't see casual gamers wanting to payout sub fees for an occasional escape from reality.  

[Adultery]

The Switch is indeed revolutionary, but what we really need is a portable Windows solution with the power of a gaming PC. Thanks to Moore's Law (if that's still a thing), this is completely possible if not probable.

[RIP-Felix]

On 6/9/2018 at 11:47 AM, Adultery said:

The Switch is indeed revolutionary, but what we really need is a portable Windows solution with the power of a gaming PC. Thanks to Moore's Law (if that's still a thing), this is completely possible if not probable.

 

So far so good...but it does remind me of a stock price curve before the crash. At some point transistors will to bump against a physical limit of miniaturization. At which point things will plateau, unless advancements in quantum computing overtake transistor based PS's before then.

Streaming services are a nice service, but home ownership was the defining characteristic of consoles that saved me. The pay to play mindset that drove the arcade game generation was a double edge sword. 1) I was too poor to play, so most of the time I could only watch. When I could play, I got destroyed and lost all my money before I got a chance to get good at a game. Which brings me to 2). The games were designed to be hard and cheap - to kill you and make you drop another coin. 3) They required infrastructure around them. An arcade business to pay the up front cost of owning the machines and a physical place you had to go to play. Consoles freed me from that kid farming racket.

For me, steaming returns to that pay to play mindset and brings with it the cheap games that are really just designed to get you to drop more coins. It's just morphed into in app purchases, advertising, and free to play nonsense. You still need to buy internet access and a device capable of running the games, which will be ongoing costs. While that's true now of PC games, consoles made it possible for that time to come infrequently with the release on another generation of console. Game ownership meant you could play that game forever, add free, without interruption or further purchases, even if you have to cut back on streaming services, data plans, and internet access to save money.

If the next generation of gaming throws game ownership and consoles out the window, I'm not interested. Especially if the following is all we have to look forward to...

 

[Draco1962]

"Seventy f*ckin' quid? You've gotta be f*ckin' kidding me!" Too funny, but you can't disagree with him. If stream play is the way of the future, I am content to live in the past.

[RIP-Felix]

12 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

... If stream play is the way of the future, I am content to live in the past.

Agreed. Especially since there are so many retro games I still have yet to play. Besides, I can continue to re-play my favorites without getting tired of them.

[tthurman]

Same here!

I just don't see this being accepted by the market, then again I'm an old fart who doesn't easily adapt to change.

 

[DazzleHP]

Ubisoft are clowns so not interested in their opinion. The console gaming market has gone to shit coz of corps like Ubi Activision EA etc. Next gen can eat my pixelated durdle. Nintendo are well on the ball this time and once i own a Switch that'll do me. Back to retro where the challenge and satisfaction is real, instead of all this catering to the worst (type of) players with the most money.