PotW: The 'console race' drop out

PALGN Feature | One company to leave them all?

All good things must come to an end. It's a proverbial and scientifically-proven musical fact, after all.

Unfortunately, or sometimes, more questionably, applying such inevitable pessimism to the wild and wacky world of the videogame industry is not always as clear cut. There's stock to consider, executives to please, and any other quantity of numerically-based hurdles to uphold.

Granted, every player within The Big Three™ today is more or less sitting pretty, in their own unique ways. But like a metaphorical perilously-positioned piano, who knows what sudden circumstances will one day force either Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony out of their console-producing careers.

It may not be tomorrow. It may not be next year. Heck, it may not even be in your lifetime. Regardless, taking into account what you know, love and/or loathe about The Big Tres™, which company do you think could drop out of the videogame hardware race first?

Vote | View Results

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32 Comments

Dropbear

3 years ago

Oooooo... tough one...

Nintendo = Win this generation, and they will probably make consoles until the company dies (and when that happens, God help us all.)

Leaving Microsoft and Sony. I'm going with the biased fanboy vote here and saying Microsoft will be first out, as they will most likely just concentrate on computers in the end. Sony has had more time in the industry than Microsoft as well.
Hell, Microsoft haven't released a handheld console yet!

So in order, Microsoft booted out first, then Sony, then Nintendo.

[/rant]

Benza

3 years ago

Dropbear wrote

Sony has had more time in the industry than Microsoft as well.

Cause thats how it worked for Sega and Sony right?

Rabscallion

3 years ago

I cant see microsoft admitting defeat. its their second attempt at a console, they are selling very well and their attach rate is high. I cant acutally see any of those 3 companies dropping out, and if i had to it would be sony giving way to phones, tv's etc.

admeister

3 years ago

I think it will be MS, but only because they launched the 360 before Sony and Nintendo launched their consoles, and I expect they will utilise the same strategy for their next gen console, meaning the 360 will probably die out first, just as the original Xbox did (I mean, the PS2 is still going, for goodness sake, over 8 years after its original launch).

renegadesx

3 years ago

Microsoft: announced its first profitable year of its Xbox business, I see them hanging in there, and its Microsoft, they pour money into products that lose money quite a bit, they are not one to backpedal. They will buy success, they will buy devs with big name franchises. Wont surprise me if they make an offer for Take Two.

Nintendo: Back on top of the industry... again, and has always dominated the handheld market.

Sony: So far lost $3 Billion on the PS3

Crank

3 years ago

I could see Microsoft going the way of Sega and only making games for other consoles in the near future.

Sony might stick it out a bit longer, trying to relive the glory days, but they have plenty of other products to fall back and video games are only a small part of their business.

Nintendo have been in the video games business for seven generations and have existed in one form or another for more than a century. I can't see them closing their doors any time soon.

AllSchoolGamer

3 years ago

I personally think that in the race to get home computers into the loungeroom and with the level of technology that sony and microsoft use + the fact that even though nintendo sell a lot of consoles they tend to be behind...plus with each new nintendo console i buy less and less games for their systems, i think nintendo will drop out first because people will grow bored of them and their re-hashes. plus all nintendo have is gaming whereas sony and microsoft can pull money from other areas of the company to keep themselves financed....its lucky for nintendo they do well with hand helds...

though they all have loads of dough to keep em going for a while so all 3 at least have 1 more system.

Passa

3 years ago

This is really difficult since neither 3 are in a position to drop out right now. It's a tight generation.

Judging from the current gen, I'd have to say Sony. The PS3 has apparently lost more money than the PS2 made, and they've relied too much on 3rd party exclusives which have now jumped ship (in reality I think they'll keep pouring money into the Playstation division until the end of the world as we know it).

But then I could also see Microsoft dropping out easily. They have very limited penetration in Europe/Japan whereas Playstation is a global brand. Unlike Nintendo, both MS and Sony are fighting for the same type of gamer.

Buuuuuttt yeah, this would have to be a long time into the future, both Microsoft and Sony have other much more profitable ventures that ensures their gaming divisions will stay alive.

So you know what.. I'd have to go with Nintendo. They make one thing, video games. Hypothetically, suppose there was another video game crash.. Microsoft and Sony would most certainly recover whereas it could spell doom for Nintendo.

Lord Haart

3 years ago

I can basically guarantee MS won't, and Nintendo isn't likely to. Sony has just lost too much ground at this point - but I'd say that it won't be just the PS that's out - it's the company. I should note that I think this would be a terrible thing, and every current console has it's own great things to add (Wii = wider community, MS = great for developers, Sony = Hardcore + Linux).

franky573

3 years ago

Lord Haart wrote

Sony has just lost too much ground at this point

But i think they reported profit on the ps3 at last. With a cheaper hdd or something? Guess I agree with the other stuff you said though.

Mr Waffle

3 years ago

franky573 wrote

But i think they reported profit on the ps3 at last. With a cheaper hdd or something? Guess I agree with the other stuff you said though.

In the Sony interview here, they said they'll never make back the $3 billion they spent developing the PS3 (though that probably also includes blu ray etc). I don't think Sony is doing too well in their other electronic markets like TVs, so I'm going to have to go with Sony bowing out of the race first.

Rob_Jedi

3 years ago

This is a real hard argument. Ninty is just printing money this gen but their pickup rate is kinda slow still it's nothing but pure profit so they aren't going anywhere.

M$ has sunk a lot of money into the Xbox and 360 and they aren't getting much sales in Europe and Japan (the fools) but the game lineup and pickup rate is bloody huge.

Sony has been loosing fans and ground all the way through with the PS3, the only boost to sales being from MGS4 being it's 1 and only must have game so far. So I'd wave bye bye to it 1st... But the PS3 is the BluRay Trojan horse that won the HD format war, and is still considered the best and most upgradeable BluRay player available so I can see the point in the future where like the way UMD movies were abandoned on the PSP, games could be few and far between but the PS3 will hang on as a movie player. The way sales in Japan have been going I could see the PSP hanging on longer than the PS3.

emech

3 years ago

Depends if its a voluntary drop out.

Nintendo does one thing - they are the least likly to drop their product line, as if they did the they no longer have a business.

BUT as the public adopts multi-task machines (as they are in mobiles by the droves) and demand all-in-one solutions, I don't forsee the big N entering that market and thus being forced out.

And as far as the all-in-one its tougher. Sony tends to inovate tech (see blue-ray) keeping them ahead of the game, but microsft throws its dollars arounf to follow.

In all seriousness I wouldn't be surprised to see all 3 fall to apple with the "i-play" or "i-lounge" or something. Apple computers have tradtionally been regarded as task focused user-freindly machines. Add in i-pod and i-phone connectivity with the apple shop download model which has worked for them with music and we have a potential winner. (and NO apart from school macs I am not an apple adopter)

You heard it here first .......

Fly

3 years ago

emech wrote

In all seriousness I wouldn't be surprised to see all 3 fall to apple with the "i-play" or "i-lounge" or something.

Oh yes, because having such witty skull cracking conversations involving i play or i game and "lol u play what?" is just what the market needs.

The key word for me is could, and as already stated speaking by simply money lost and business structures Sony look to be the one that could drop out since MS have cash to burn and Nintendo doesn't have much alternatives. As much as I would like to say that it should be MS due to their offerings being initially problematic and their spread across regions being sparse, one could argue that at least Sony and Nintendo can sell in any region where a market then wouldn't be neglected.

Deus Sceleris

3 years ago

It's too hard... Nintendo and Microsoft could drop from sales or 0 uptake and Sony could drop from no profits (if they go the PS3 road again)... I'll vote M$, though i have no idea what the heck i'm talking about:

If Ninty can't move forward from the Wii, i'm betting it's them. I mean, are the casuals going to fork out another $400 or so for a graphical update, or head mounted controls or something? Can they compete against Sony and Microsofts next outing with super-HD 26,000,000p graphics, and win over third party devs?

M$ have done alright, even with the RROD debacle. Although they may go the way of the Dreamcast if they get an early release again, and early adopters stay away in case of new hardware failures.

And Sony... Sure they might not make back this "$3mil" figure, and the PS2 will probable still sell well through the PS3's lifespan, they might try too hard to take either extreme. A) The casual extreme to compete with [maybe?] dwindling Wii sales and Ninty's next outing. or B) Fill the PS4 with even more "supercomputers" (not to mention newt eyes and dragons blood) and hope that everyone else holds out for it.

Fetidchimp

3 years ago

I don't think any of them will, nintendo is doing well in actual sales, M$ has the games and Sony has the potential.

Having said that, i would say Sony if any of them, only because i wonder how long "potential" lasts before it is yesterdays technology, seems to be a lot of technologies have passed us by due to "potential" syndrome.

x7h3CUREx

3 years ago

microsoft are more focused on beating their competition to the next-gen market with half-baked hardware than releasing quality products. and their exclusive games are mostly mediocre. it's only a matter of time before it bites them. of the 13 people that i know who own a 360, only 1 hasn't needed to return their console for support and even the hardcore 360 fanboys have sold up and bought a ps3 now.
my 360 is used purely for media streaming now and there is no way i'm giving any more of my hard earned to that company again.
so yeah, my money is on microsoft to drop out.

Jellyfish

3 years ago

Apple won't release a non portable games console. The only reasonable deduction for who'll drop out first is Sony, especially if they can't pull their game together with the PS3. I mean, Sony no longer make half their home entertainment equipment, Sony-Ericcsson is going down the toilet and they've already borrowed a hell of a lot of money to throw at the PS3. Currently I believe the only things keeping them in the green are Movies/Music and Blu-Ray royalties.

unlachs

3 years ago

unified platform, so it's a happy ending for all

LeonJ

3 years ago

This is a pretty stupid poll.

I can't see any of them dropping out in the next decade because gaming has become such a big business there is room for all 3 to make lots of money. All in great positions for different reasons.

If anything the PSP will die a painful death due to the iPhone killing it grabbing all the techy gamers.

notsofat

3 years ago

i think microsoft will launch a download only casual gamer console/ media center pc, so them, since thats a load of crap.

Madondona

3 years ago

Nintendo looks like the long term Winner.
They are winning now and it looks like they have planned ahead to stay on top. The Wii has the best library of retrogame downloads. All they need to do is buy out Sega and their retro library is almost complete.
Consumers are now divided between graphics and simple fun gameplay. Nintendo offers both. Parents can buy the Wii for their 4-12 year olds to play all the fun SNES, N64 & Gamecube classics (with a simple controller). Adults will buy it for that and everything else. What does Sony and MSoft offer the under 13 year olds? They are missing out on around 50% of the market.

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

In my eyes, they're all winners just for giving it a go. You hear that, you're all winners, each and every one of you, that's the true spirit of Christmas.

Honestly though, none of them are going anywhere.

Deus Sceleris

3 years ago

unlachs wrote

unified platform, so it's a happy ending for all

Did you see this:
http://www.piicron.com/

Funny stuff, once you get over the "rage" and find out it's only a joke...

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