I don't think anyone will take Microsoft's place in the Gaming Industry.

[667]

Gsme crash 2026?

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Microshaft lost PC gaming to Valve a long time ago, and the Xbox is a non-factor at this point, what place is there to take anyway?

 

[bjork]

Sega could easily replace Microsoft. And people would be so excited they would forget that Xbox ever even existed.

They have nowhere near the resources nor the pool of studios nor a lot of things. Sega as a console maker died with Isao Okawa, sadly.

 

[Mopeybloke]

If all you want is a box with a decently cheap flow of games, which is all the space XBOX is actually leaving behind, Lord Gaben can provide. There is evidence they are making a box, though not sure when/if it'll come out.

 

[SeeroftheNight]

Sony will hold on to the market of console gamers who simply don't want to get into PC gaming, and Nintendo has the portable space cornered. I don't think Valve (as a hardware maker) will simply ever reach the level of Xbox. They have their niche and they serve it well but most people will just go for Switch/S2 over Steam Deck.

 

[Turbo Kid]

They have nowhere near the resources nor the pool of studios nor a lot of things. Sega as a console maker died with Isao Okawa, sadly.

If I had billions of dollars, I would buy Sega and go for it. I'd get the studios I need, revive some of those IPs and make it happen.

 

[Dodgykebaab]

The Saudi Prince is going to come up with something, give it time.

Actually yes, this could happen

tbh i think sony might also be on its way out as well,

Highly unlikey. Unlike Microsoft, the largest percent of Sonys profit comes gaming. They'll fight to keep it unlike MS who are only too happy to drop consoles.

 

[bjork]

If I had billions of dollars, I would buy Sega and go for it. I'd get the studios I need, revive some of those IPs and make it happen.

Okay, so while I'd love to see it because I enjoyed my Sega console and their mark on the industry, let me play friendly devil's advocate here:

Let's say you have a jillion dollars, nearly unlimited funds. But only as a starting point, at some point this needs to support itself or else it's just wasting money for the sake of it. Also let's assume that every third party is for sale, so you're not buying Nintendo or Sony or their first/second party studios. But everyone else is up for grabs. Who are you buying and which resurrected franchises do you think will make this project somehow successful to the point that it needs to be in order to stay afloat

 

[Dodgykebaab]

Let's say you have a jillion dollars, nearly unlimited funds.

Microsoft has essentally unlimited money and they couldn't beat Sony & Nintendo!

I'm pretty sure that's your point though, I just couldn't wait!

 

[Nickakyoin]

"Am I a joke to you?"

 

[bjork]

Microsoft has essentally unlimited money and they couldn't beat Sony & Nintendo!

I'm pretty sure that's your point though, I just couldn't wait!

They do, but aside from a brief period with the 360, they never had the mythical 'hearts and minds.' Sega, despite its best efforts, still manages to have a soft spot with a lot of people and that does carry some weight. It's definitely a factor.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Microsoft never catered to the Japanese market, which was always a problem. And they always chased after things that were doomed to failure. Look at all of the stupid choices they made when they launched the Xbox one, a whole bunch of stupid shit that nobody wanted. So everyone turned back to Sony.

This shit isn't rocket science but a lot of big corporations are run by complete, fucking idiots who are not in touch with what the target audience wants at all. Ivory towers and all that. We're starting to see that now with Nintendo. A few days on any video game forum would be enough for anyone with half a brain to know how to launch a successful console.

It's so...fucking...easy.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

The way Microsoft is now, I think this would be a proper replacement

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Imagine if Apple would finally tackle video gaming again.

 

[PhaseJump]

Valve has fremont kicking around.

No matter what roller coaster ride Microsoft and Sony take the industry on, Tencent exists, and Bandai Namco Holdings or SegaSammy are only one or two Saudi money bags away from being rolled up with SNK and smoked on a hypothetical benchmark or platform that could reshape everything.

 

[bjork]

Microsoft never catered to the Japanese market, which was always a problem. And they always chased after things that were doomed to failure. Look at all of the stupid choices they made when they launched the Xbox one, a whole bunch of stupid shit that nobody wanted. So everyone turned back to Sony.

This shit isn't rocket science but a lot of big corporations are run by complete, fucking idiots who are not in touch with what the target audience wants at all. Ivory towers and all that. We're starting to see that now with Nintendo. A few days on any video game forum would be enough for anyone with half a brain to know how to launch a successful console.

It's so...fucking...easy.

So paint us a word picture.

If I apply the same hypothetical to myself, I'm really not sure how I would go about it. You're talking about taking a third party and (I assume) making their titles now all exclusives to this new console, but what Sega property has enough juice to make people care? Nobody's buying a console for Sonic or Total War, or at least not enough to make a big splash. Resurrecting IP is great, but all it takes is one or two misses and people don't care any more. I don't think it is easy.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

So paint us a word picture.

If I apply the same hypothetical to myself, I'm really not sure how I would go about it. You're talking about taking a third party and (I assume) making their titles now all exclusives to this new console, but what Sega property has enough juice to make people care? Nobody's buying a console for Sonic or Total War, or at least not enough to make a big splash. Resurrecting IP is great, but all it takes is one or two misses and people don't care any more. I don't think it is easy.

If the new IPs on the Dreamcast didn't save it then no console could do.

 

[bjork]

If the new IPs on the Dreamcast didn't save it then no console could do.

But the dreamcast boasted the biggest launch in entertainment history up to that point. So to that end, they did manage a successful launch, right?
The piracy angle sadly kinda nullifies any IPs involved, even if they'd had Madden... if you have Madden but sell 1/10 of what you would've since it's free online, does that deal hold any real value? I think a more secure DC might've lasted at least a little bit longer, but with weird shit like Floigan Bros coming out at the end there, maybe not.

 

[medisinn]

I agree, there is no replacing Microsoft. They themselves have proven buying up studios with no clear vision and strategy is stupid. If you need further proof, look at Embracer Group. They've sold or closed much of what they bought, often without releasing any games in that time. They bought Gearbox, and didn't even get a mainline Borderlands game out the door before selling to Take Two.

Sega would be great, but they had problems long before the Dreamcast. They have had a lot of success recently with stuff like Yakuza, but also through acquisitions like Atlus and the Persona series. The same games for Squenix, their ratio of critically acclaimed games to duds has been generally lukewarm to terrible since the merger, but they publish lots of stuff through studios they acquired or publish for. You need new exciting IPs to lure in customers and they haven't provided much of that in the last couple decades, you can only buy so much before you need to create something new yourself.

I think a console with the combined might of Squenix, Sega, Capcom and one or two other companies would slap, but with the exception of Capcom these companies are not in their glory days. Plus I can't imagine them playing nice and sharing profits(and costs).

The console biz is still worth being in, but it takes work. Sony is going nowhere and PS5s sell well even if they are not putting out much this generation due to their canceled live service plans. Still, gamers are locked into that ecosystem and purchases don't transfer, so why would they leave without a truly compelling reason? All Sony has to do is provide a stable platform and collect 30% of microtransactions and sales, plus any income from first-party games and Playstation Plus.

 

[Lena CE]

Consoles barely make sense as is, so the idea of anyone trying to compete is laughable. If Sony leaves, that'll pretty much be it for consoles as we know em.

Sega promised streets of rage then forgot about it so another console would be insane news.

Tbf the only game of their revival series they have actually shown off and released is Shinobi. They didn't forget about the new Streets of Rage, its just like their other titles where its not ready yet.

 

[Zerpina]

tbh i think sony might also be on its way out as well

Well I dunno. Microsoft doesn't depend on Xbox for income, and Sony doesn't either with Playstation, not really.

But they take in a large chunk of change from it. Microsoft could drop everything video game-related tomorrow and not even notice the drop in cash. They aren't going to, but that's not the point. Sony is the same. PlayStation brings in a good chunk of change, but they were and still are an electronics and entertainment company first and foremost. I'm sure they have other stuff they make as well, like I dunno, ATVs or something...

Hell, Yamaha makes both musical equipment and ATVs, bikes, etc. Anyway, if Sony goes, it'll just make ROG Ally handhelds like Microsoft is doing and not support it in a year's time, like the PSP line.

and it will probably look like N vs Valve for the foreseeable future

Big companies have tried to overthrow Valve. I believe Amazon tried that and well it didn't go well, they failed miserably. I read somewhere that basically "Others try to outdo Valve and Steam, and Steam does nothing and comes out on top"

I know Valve is a company, and like any other, they aren't our friends.
But at least they seem to care about the fan and consumer base. Nintendo, on the other hand, doesn't really. They care about the bottom line and money. As of late, they have let the mask's fall away, and the facade of friendliness is slowly chipping away.

unless there is a really big shakeup like idk, samsung or ibm give console making a go for whatever reason AND it turns out to be a smash hit

ATARI make's a comeback <I could hardly type that with a straight face>

 

[JoueurCitoyen]

What if Panic took Microsoft's place with a home Playdate and a full-size crank

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Those 3 aren’t losing money so there’s no reason for Microsoft to backdown. As much as people say that gaming industry is going bad as the film industry is right now the big companies always a plan B for everything and even a panic room to where they can wait the “storm” to pass

 

[Tetronomicon]

I think we're watching the slow death of consoles. At least as we know them.

Like... what even is a console these days? Back in ye olden times, you had to develop for hyper specific custom hardware (arcade games were the epitome of this).

Now though? Everything is effectively a PC game/port. There used to a be a clear dividing line between the PC gaming world and the console gaming one. From the 21st century (6th console gen) onward, the lines started to blur and now they're not even there on a hardware level. Both Xbox and PlayStation are basically using the same AMD 8-core Zen 2 derived x86-64 CPU for their hardware. As well as Nintendo using the same type of processor in every smartphone (in their case, designed by the shovel sellers of the AI world... Nvidia).

So while the category of "thing you put under your TV to play video games" will probably never go away, I doubt it will stay as some locked down thing for playing said console developers games. Gamepass (and the broader Xbox brand at this point) is just their exit chute.

As for Sony, well... they've been putting their games on Microsoft's platform long before the current situation with Xbox. Pretty much every first party game eventually heads to Windows. And of course, both are basically doing it via Steam from a Valve.

So with everything I've just said... what even is a console at this point really? Everything that is outside the PC space is running on hardware and software from the PC space. Since the PS3, even PlayStation has been running off of the ancestral offshoot of the old AT&T Bell Labs that created the computing industry as we know it. The same can be said of the networking components in Switch 1 & 2 (also used by Windows so probably in the Xbox as well).

(For those who didn't get that last part, I'm referring to the PlayStation OS being based off of FreeBSD (said ancestral offshoot of Unix)).

I fear the console might already be dead now.

 

[TinRattler]

I think a Chinese or indian company will swoop in