Playstation Vita thread

[sabrage]

Seeing how we're able to go back to carts on handhelds... how much longer until the same thing hits home consoles?

Never?

Until the point flash memory ever reaches a price point cheaper than bandwith (I calculate that happening approximately... never) the consoles of the future will likely be download-only once we move past disk-based media.

[MrPopo]

Seeing how we're able to go back to carts on handhelds... how much longer until the same thing hits home consoles?

Never?

Until the point flash memory ever reaches a price point cheaper than bandwith (I calculate that happening approximately... never) the consoles of the future will likely be download-only once we move past disk-based media.

Unless Nintendo listens to my SNES 2 idea.

[dsheinem]

the consoles of the future will likely be download-only once we move past disk-based media.

considering that such a large percentage of profit comes from the retail sector, I doubt this.

[MrPopo]

the consoles of the future will likely be download-only once we move past disk-based media.

considering that such a large percentage of profit comes from the retail sector, I doubt this.

I disagree. If they maintain the current price point but cut out retail entirely they can make more profit selling less units, as now they don't lose money from manufacturing and retail's cut. But that's going to require a broadband adoption rate high enough so that they aren't losing a ton of customers who don't have good internet.

[dsheinem]

the consoles of the future will likely be download-only once we move past disk-based media.

considering that such a large percentage of profit comes from the retail sector, I doubt this.

I disagree. If they maintain the current price point but cut out retail entirely they can make more profit selling less units, as now they don't lose money from manufacturing and retail's cut. But that's going to require a broadband adoption rate high enough so that they aren't losing a ton of customers who don't have good internet.

But what will little Johnny get under the Christmas Tree? A PSN card? How exciting...

[sabrage]

Here's some interesting statistics on internet/broadband penetration and the cost of proliferation. Take into account the fact that we're really only on the outer edge of the internet's capabilities; look at the penetration of televisions into the average home for comparison of where we'll likely be 10 years from now. I already buy the bulk of my games online, so it's not hard to imagine a day in the near future where that's the only possible avenue.

A lot of cities are already offering free or paid broadband access, subsidized by the local government, to their citizens. The ease of access to internet has never been higher, and it's certainly not going to be lower in the future.

[MrPopo]

considering that such a large percentage of profit comes from the retail sector, I doubt this.

I disagree. If they maintain the current price point but cut out retail entirely they can make more profit selling less units, as now they don't lose money from manufacturing and retail's cut. But that's going to require a broadband adoption rate high enough so that they aren't losing a ton of customers who don't have good internet.

But what will little Johnny get under the Christmas Tree? A PSN card? How exciting...

We can solve that with the War on Christmas.

[GSZX1337]

But what will little Johnny get under the Christmas Tree? A PSN card? How exciting...

You can do the same thing with current games.

What will little Johnny get under the Christmas Tree? A disc inside a plastic case? How exciting...

[KDub]

Here's some interesting statistics on internet/broadband penetration and the cost of proliferation. Take into account the fact that we're really only on the outer edge of the internet's capabilities; look at the penetration of televisions into the average home for comparison of where we'll likely be 10 years from now. I already buy the bulk of my games online, so it's not hard to imagine a day in the near future where that's the only possible avenue.

A lot of cities are already offering free or paid broadband access, subsidized by the local government, to their citizens. The ease of access to internet has never been higher, and it's certainly not going to be lower in the future.

There is no denying that everyone could be hooked in and willing to buy everything digital sometime in the future; but not in the next two console generations I think. In the next ten years almost all of that 65% of population who aren't hooked into the internet would need to vanish. All of that blue and green in the connection speeds and bandwidth limits would need to be way down. Also be aware that as game progress, streaming and downloading games will only become more data intensive so not only will those colors needs to vanish (meaning everyone is on high speed internet) but the speed would need to keep increasing. I don't see all of that coming into place in the generation after this one we are approaching this winter and probably not in the one after that; especially with this failing global economy.

With everything considered the total percent of people who couldn't actually manage to buy a lot of games on a download/stream only market is a lot larger. Probably closer to 75% or 80%.

I understand that not all of those people play video games but could you imagine going into a board meeting and telling everyone that it would be a good idea to leave them out anyway? Even if that total number dropped to 45% or 35% in the next 10 years....that is one risky business move.

[sabrage]

Here's some interesting statistics on internet/broadband penetration and the cost of proliferation. Take into account the fact that we're really only on the outer edge of the internet's capabilities; look at the penetration of televisions into the average home for comparison of where we'll likely be 10 years from now. I already buy the bulk of my games online, so it's not hard to imagine a day in the near future where that's the only possible avenue.

A lot of cities are already offering free or paid broadband access, subsidized by the local government, to their citizens. The ease of access to internet has never been higher, and it's certainly not going to be lower in the future.

There is no denying that everyone could be hooked in and willing to buy everything digital sometime in the future; but not in the next two console generations I think. In the next ten years almost all of that 65% of population who aren't hooked into the internet would need to vanish. All of that blue and green in the connection speeds and bandwidth limits would need to be way down. Also be aware that as game progress, streaming and downloading games will only become more data intensive so not only will those colors needs to vanish (meaning everyone is on high speed internet) but the speed would need to keep increasing. I don't see all of that coming into place in the generation after this one we are approaching this winter and probably not in the one after that; especially with this failing global economy.

With everything considered the total percent of people who couldn't actually manage to buy a lot of games on a download/stream only market is a lot larger. Probably closer to 75% or 80%.

I understand that not all of those people play video games but could you imagine going into a board meeting and telling everyone that it would be a good idea to leave them out anyway? Even if that total number dropped to 45% or 35% in the next 10 years....that is one risky business move.

But just look how long this console generation has lasted. In 8 years (assuming the same pattern) we'll be looking at the ninth generation, and by the time the one after that rolls around I'd say it's pretty safe to assume, based on the technology we have today and barring unforseeable advances, that we're moving towards an all-digital model.