There May Be No Consoles in the Future, EA Exec Says

[The Deadman]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the.../1100-6439591/

Consoles, as they are traditionally known, may be going the way of the Dodo bird. That's according to Electronic Arts Chief Competition Officer Peter Moore, who said in a new interview that the rise of streaming may signal an end to consoles as we know them.

"I'm not sure there will be consoles, as we know them anymore," Moore told The Daily Orange. "Games will be accessed by streaming technology, so we don't need hardware intermediaries in between the two."

He added: "If you and I want to play Battlefield 12 against each other, we'll just jump into a game via whatever monitor we happen to have in our homes. It'll be on a chip, rather than in a box."

The Daily Orange reported the Moore said the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are "well set up to advance as technology does." This point is particularly interesting, given that rumors have suggested that Sony or Microsoft, or both, might be planning to release incremental updates to their latest consoles.

Bear in mind that what Moore is talking about sounds like its something of a far-future prediction. He is not alone, however, in believing that consoles as we know them won't be around forever.

In 2013, Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada offered this take, "When there's the PS5, it will probably be just a controller and a monitor. Then, the thing that will be left is the name of the service."

More recently, gaming veteran Lorne Lanning said that PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida told him that Sony itself was unsure if there would ever be a PlayStation 5.

[CyberCubed]

It wouldn't be too surprising if all the companies go with online streaming services. Microsoft and Nintendo would probably do that before Sony though.

[The Deadman]

I dunno, there was that rumor a few years ago before the PS3 came out that it was going to be an all digital console.

[CyberCubed]

That was 2006, we're now going to be in 2020 before the next console cycle. The whole world is moving toward online streaming and digital downloads.

Nintendo's console market is shrinking and the Xbox One isn't the breakout sales success the 360 was. I can easily see Microsoft giving up consoles since they're already using the Xbox brand on Windows 10, and Nintendo might very well do the same if the NX bombs.

Sony is probably the most likely to make a PS5 because the PS4 is selling incredibly well.

[sdp]

It's been clear where things have been headed for many years now, I mean remember gametap? It was a service before its time just like the N-gage was by having games on a cellphone. Were either service perfect? no but they both had the right idea. "Hardcore gamers" are so conservative and hive minded that if they don't like something they dismissed it as if it won't actually happen.

[raph27]

Pretty obvious given the way things are going. The question is how far off are they. And how long afterwards will Nintendo try to keep making consoles.

[tmnt transformer]

I don't think Nintendo will do this anytime soon. I personally don't like steam/game streaming in general, and I honestly think that Nintendo might be the only one that keeps the whole physical collectable that guys like me will buy.

[CyberCubed]

If the NX doesn't sell any better than the Wii-U did, Nintendo is almost definitely going to abandon consoles and make some sort of online stream/download service instead.

[Ninjinister]

I'm pretty sure there will always be a market for SOME kind of console... Even if it'll be all digital link some high end OUYA/Fire TV/Razer Forge/Apple TV situation.

[STORMSHADOW__210]

I'm still both optimistic and confident we will be getting another Xbox and ps5.

I have a great internet connection but playing streamed games on my ps now is hit and miss. It's really cool just checking out new games that you would never buy and re- playing old school ps2 games. Then again, the service is glitchy half the time and dampens the experience .

I'm sure we will eventually all live like the Jetsons but I'm not expecting a flying car anytime soon. I have a feeling that virtual reality isn't going to be a immediate hit as some of the developers hope.

That said , even if/when the day comes that we aren't getting a new console from Sony , Microsoft , and Nintendo , I think we will see Hyperkin step up with their Retron series giving gamers another option.

[Shark_Blade]

Imagine no more gaming shops. Much like there's less and less dvd/video shops nowadays.

[DarkFell]

^ Some game stores even sell DVD's Are you familiar with Gamestop? As far as I know, they still sell movies. Even Game Over (another place that I will occasionally go to) sells DVD's & sound-tracks from various video games.

And I agree with Ninjinister - there will always be a demand for consoles.