NPD : "The console wars have been over for a while. Let it go."

Pretty much since Xbox is going to shit. I’m not even sure what to expect next generation from Microsoft. Will they even make a new console or maybe they’ll just stick with making more poorfag Xbox’s?

>>716481945 (OP)
That's very cool, but why are you a gook?

>>716481945 (OP)
This is complete bullshit. It's a chicken and egg scenario.

I guarantee you if Elder Scrolls 6 or COD was a pure Xbox Series S/X exclusive (no PC port), it would sell consoles. The problem is Xbox has given up selling consoles through real exclusives for the last decade. They've ported all Xbox exclusives to PC since 2017. PC/Steam is a 300m+ market. You're giving hundreds of millions of people ZERO incentive to buy your system. And wow, look at that, Xbox hardware sales are completely collapsing now. Who could've seen that coming.

Piscatella is partially right, that the bulk of console sales are made to giga normalfags who primarily buy multiplats (e.g. COD, Destiny, Fortnite, GTA, Madden, Ubislop etc.). But there's tens of millions of giga normies on PC. Xbox (and now Sony) are giving those tens millions of PCfags absolutely zero incentive to buy their hardware by porting exclusives.

You're not courting that potential new audience, and you're giving existing audiences who own multiple systems zero incentive to continue investing in your platform. If I'd already own a gaming PC, I'd have to be an idiot to invest in a Xbox Series X or PS5. There is zero incentive. I had a PS4 and gaming PC. Sony started porting all their PS4 and now PS5 games to PC. I didn't buy a PS5 as a result, literally no reason to. If Nintendo starting porting their Switch exclusives to PC, they probably lose 50m hardware sales at least.

Fucking retarded points that are disconnected from the fundamentals of the gaming industry.

>>716481945 (OP)
I don't care about consoles. I care about geopolitics and economic soft power. Xbox winning means money going to amerikanker. Playstation winning means money going to amerikanker. Steam winning means money going to amerikanker. Nintendo winning means money going to Japan, which while being on amerikanker leash, can always drift out of the sphere of influence. Boosted economic power helps closen said drift.

The only viable choice is Nintendo. Xbox, Sony and Valve can fucking die in a fire.

There is a direct correlation between the death of exclusivity and the severe drop in quality of AAA games

globalist slop is all we gonna get

>>716482340
>ES6 would sell consoles.
That would require that Bethesda can still make good games, which they don't.

>>716482340
Lets say they sell consoles (which are being sold at a loss btw). Realistically, how many would that be? Most people buy consoles because it's what their friends have or whatever. They just want to play typical normieslop. Not to mention Xbox has no way of penetrating the market in Europe or Japan.
With game budgets increasingly more expensive, they need growth. And growth doesn't come from the console market anymore. Has any console reached 200 million units sold? 300 million?

This is suicide for the Playstation and Xbox then. If there are no exclusives why would any sane person not abandon those consoles and invest in a PC? Nintendo is doing the right approach here

>>716482340
You're speaking the truth, but it doesn't sit right with me that we accepted overpriced PC hardware, unoptimized games, and a complete monopoly on game distribution by Valve. There's always going to be an appeal of a game platform that sits at far lower than half the price with graphics and performance that's not too far behind.

NOOOOOOO THE consol wars is our AURA

>>716482932
Nintendo can make low budget derivative games with well known IPs and milk money from their captured audience, they can keep coasting like that forever. Their customers aren't gamers, they're Nintendo Gamers.

Nintendo won

>>716483164
the alternative is even more expensive tho
making something with a different microarchitecture would cost much more and basically tank sony
games would also be more difficult to develop on it

games today are unoptimized because devs are trash, if consoles became consoles again instead of locked down PCs you'd see performance plummet to N64 levels

>>716481945 (OP)
Yes and Sony won.

>>716483481
Sony went 3rd party. Nintendo won.

>>716483313
meanwhile Retro Studios gets 4K60 at probably less than 20GB file size out of the Switch 2, and Rockstar builds GTA6 specifically for the PS5. If consoles die, PC gaming will too.

>>716482932
>why would any sane person not abandon those consoles
That's the catch though, most people are not sane.

>>716481945 (OP)
Nintendo isn't a unicorn: it is a circus, and its fanboys are the clowns

>>716483565
>4K60 at probably less than 20GB file size out of the Switch 2
I've seen the monkey game framerates anon

>Refuse to announce it was Nintendo who won

lmao

>>716481945 (OP)
>"N-N-Nintendo doesn't count!"
Yeah they're a "unicorn" because they completely disprove your points

Xbox and Sony were retarded for not viewing PC Gaming as a direct competitor. Not as some alternative platform with a distinct audience. The moment they started porting exclusives, Xbox gave hundreds of millions of PCfags zero reason to buy their hardware. And now, a generation later, their hardware sales are collapsing.

Playstation courted the turbo normalfag audience from 360 over to PS4/PS5. Normies who buy consoles are just buying Playstation now. Other normies just buy PCs. Hardcores stick to PC and Nintendo for the most coverage. As a result, Xbox is left with no audience. They lost most of that normie audience, and hardcores have no reason to buy their hardware. Playstation is largely left with that console normie audience, which is slowly bleeding users to PC. Especially for zoomers, PC gaming IS gaming. Console demographics are skewing older and older (pic related).

PlayStation and Xbox could emulate Nintendo by developing exclusive 1st Party IPs and fostering brand loyalty. They used to! But since the 8th gen, they’ve been content to rely on this normalfag audience that plays multiplats (Madden, FIFA, COD, Destiny, Ubisoft titles, GTA, Fortnite, etc.). A demographic that’s aging out and bleeding users to PC, because it's a better value proposition.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's strategy of basic fundamentals (high quality games exclusive to your system sell said system, wow!) and courting younger players is evidently working out the best. Shocking.

>>716483615
I'm talking about Metroid Prime 4, anonfag.

>>716483653
>courting younger players
This doesn't happen.

>>716481945 (OP)
I switched to PC properly around 2009 and havent looked back. Almost everyone has one these days due to study/work and the platform is massive in terms of what you can play. You can emulate most of previous console generations and also most of old PC games simply werk with a little bit of tinkering.
Meanwhile consoles are a substantial investment, seem to constantly require updates to new Pro/4K etc versions and the games are expensive as shit. Also no emulation, no piracy, almost no indie shittery.

Console is like rowing in a pond or a small lake whilst PC has access to all Seven Oceans and beyond.

>>716483667
Muddled textures and low poly models that look 15 years out of date, and we'll see how accurate the advertised performance is when it's out.

>>716483562
Nintendo doesn’t even make consoles anymore. No one is playing CoD on a fucking tablet lol

>>716483748
great analogy saar

>>716482340
Let go, console warrior.

>>716483565
GTA 6 is releasing only on PS5/Xbox first so they can milk PC users. It is a rare instance. Pretty much no other game can make large amounts of people buy/rent a console just for it. But GTA is a cultural phenomenon. PC gamers will play it day one and then buy it again on PC. There is no technical limitation preventing the game from releasing on PC day one btw, it is purely soulless, artificial and business based decision making. They'll milk GTA VI like they milked GTA V - V was released for 7th gen consoles then 8th gen consoles then PC then 9th gen consoles. Gotta milk it as much as you can

>>716483593
seethe harder. Nintendo won

>>716483562
Call me when they get GTA6 and TES6

>>716483874
Furthermore, GTA VI will be 30 fps on PS5

>>716483653
I really doubt young players make up a significant amount of nintendos audience anymore, the industry probably isn't ready for how difficult it's gonna be to get these kids outside of the robolox/fortnite bubble

>>716483667
>game that looks straight out of 2010 runs well
They'd be incompetent if it doesn't.

>>716483874
>There is no technical limitation preventing the game from releasing on PC
Yeah if you want it to run like dogshit. The scope of the game is far too big period and it will be a complete disaster if it wasn't designed with a specific architecture in mind first. Trust me on this that your current PC setup won't run GTA 6 properly.

>>716483881
Toot your own horn harder, clown

>>716482932
All the most popular games are multiplat, god of war going to pc isn't gonna stop them from buying a playstation to play cod

>>716484062
lol
not sure if bait or genuine console warrior...
ps5 and xbox are x86 consoles
what is the secet sauce this time? power of the ssd?

>>716483796
>>716484014
the point was that they are the only studio you can point to that takes 100% of the hardware capabilities. Any other platform you pay for hardware that goes unused in your games.

“Nintendo won chud”

>Nintendo has the weakest dogshit console on Earth

Another “analyst” I see.

>>716484062
>with a specific architecture in mind first
...what? It's a Zen 2 AMD system, the same x86 PC as everything else.

>>716484213
>muh grafix

>>716482340
COD might have done it, but TES 6 wouldn't be selling consoles.

>>716484161
>>716484221
are you dense? it's not that the console is weaker, it's that they can optimize it to run properly because they can work with it. If they would release a game this big simultaneously on PC, it would be a lag, crash, and bug fest for half of all PC gamers.

>>716484164
All consoles can usually squeeze more power pound for pound from their hardware compared to PCs because they aren't general computing system, they can do way less, but it also means they run fewer layers of abstraction between the game and the hardware. The issue is with Windows being a piece of digital AIDS, hopefully Lutris and SteamOS fix this.

>>716482803
>Lets say they sell consoles (which are being sold at a loss btw)
This has been the case throughout the entirety of the games industry. Also, not every case. Frequently, manufacturing costs reach a break-even point after a year or two. Companies like Nintendo rarely sell consoles at a loss from Day 1.

>Realistically, how many would that be? Most people buy consoles because it's what their friends have or whatever. They just want to play typical normieslop. Not to mention Xbox has no way of penetrating the market in Europe or Japan
To be clear, I think it's too late for Xbox. The pandora's box of PC (and now PS/Nintendo) ports has been opened, and they aren't going back.

Skyrim sold over 60m copies. It IS normieslop. Let's be conservative and say 10m-20m people buy an Xbox because they want to play TES6. Successful consoles usually sell 80m-150m. That's a huge number for 1 single game. Xbox has no way of penetrating the market in Europe or Japan because they don't have system-selling exclusives to attract users. Chicken and egg. TES6 at least be a system seller in Europe.

Now imagine if Xbox made COD exclusive too. That would've actually shifted the mainstream away from Playstation.

>With game budgets increasingly more expensive, they need growth. And growth doesn't come from the console market anymore. Has any console reached 200 million units sold? 300 million?
Growth doesn't come from the console market anymore because Sony and Xbox let PC take their lunch. Again, chicken and egg. Maybe try courting over some PC zoomers by having some system-selling exclusive titles. Fundamentals

Even regardless of "le infinite growth number must go up!!!", first party sales on even Sony's riskier exclusives (like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart) are profitable on PS5 alone, before they're ported to PC. (https://icon-era.com/threads/ratchet-and-clank-rift-apart-was-profitable.8211/) The PC ports are pure greed, not done out of necessity

>>716484402
You have no idea what the fuck you're taking about.
How is this optimisation you're speaking of done?

>>716481945 (OP)
It's not just console wars that are over.
Soon everything will be over.

>>716482932
>sane persons
where?

>>716484570
There is no reality where Sony is capable of courting PC zoomers who are already locked into their own live service treadmills.

>>716484213
If you care about graphic fidelity, you are not a gamer.

>>716483732
>>716484007
Fortnite and Roblox eat up more of the young kid mindshare than before. Nintendo is still doing a way better job appealing to kids than Sony or Microsoft, however.

If you think pic related's age demographics for Nintendo are bad, then Sony and Microsoft are gigafucked. 45% of people who buy an Xbox/Sony in the US are 45+.

>>716484570
The amount of potential console users is not enough. This is why they have to increase the prices of everything in order to milk individual customers as much as possible. Console market has hit a cap. Game budgets have not.
It makes no business sense to make something like CoD exclusive to Xbox. Even if you shift a few millions of units of consoles it won't make up for completely the other markets.

And I will just say that artificially locking a game to a box is just kinda gross. If the systems are totally different and porting is costly and time consuming I can understand, but locking games away just for the sake of it is actually anti-consumer.
If I like game X on platform A why would I have a mental breakdown over it being on platform B as well? It literally doesn't affect me whatsoever

>>716485339
completely losing*

>>716485318
Nintendo really benefits from having the strongest IP lineup on earth, sony really fucked up by never really getting a iconic lineup that lasted more than one generation.

>>716483164
>and a complete monopoly on game distribution by Valve
There's a difference between having a monopoly and being better than all your competitors. EGS is shit and GOG's client is the most poorly designed garbage I've ever had the displeasure of installing. Everyone who complains about Steam having a "monopoly" is just mad that their own service isn't as good.

>>716481945 (OP)
"If you want to still think it's 2005 and there's a group of gamers out there who are going to move away from their preferred platforms"
In other words Nintendo is gonna get literally everything so why the hell would anyone keep supporting Xbox or Playstation at that point? I'm already seeing tons of Sony fanboys saying they're gonna abandon ship after the multiplat job listing came out

>>716483164
>and a complete monopoly on game distribution by Valve
Only because the alternative stores are just flat out worse, if a competitive product to steam actually came out then you can bet it would big. It's really that simple

>>716481945 (OP)
It's not that Sony/Microsoft can't do what Nintendo does, it's that they don't try.
They don't have any big family IPs. Kids ask for the system with the kid character they recognize and develop brand loyalty.
You can't just do movie games, sports ball, and GTA. Kid IPs are important.

>>716485339
>The amount of potential console users is not enough.
Says who? Switch has sold 150m. PS4 117m. Xbox One around 40-50m. That's about 200-300m~. That's a metric fuckton of people. It only takes a couple million sales for a game to be profitable.

If you absolutely need to grow, you can compete for a larger share of this pre-existing pie (especially when the max a single console has sold is the PS2's 160m). You can court people who don't traditionally play games to buy your system (e.g. the Wii/DS blue ocean strategy did). You can court PC gamers to buy your system. You can increase profits in other areas, like increasing software attach rates (e.g. what the Switch did).

>This is why they have to increase the prices of everything in order to milk individual customers as much as possible. Console market has hit a cap. Game budgets have not.
Here's a thought: Cap game budgets. Drive sales through innovation in game design rather than chasing hyper-realistic graphics and scope creep. The Nintendo approach.
Shit like Spiderman 2, a same-engine sequel with heavy asset reuse, should not have 3x the budget of Spiderman 1. That's pure fucking inefficiency.

>And I will just say that artificially locking a game to a box is just kinda gross. If the systems are totally different and porting is costly and time consuming I can understand, but locking games away just for the sake of it is actually anti-consumer. If I like game X on platform A why would I have a mental breakdown over it being on platform B as well? It literally doesn't affect me whatsoever
This is a midwit take. It's not about fanboys having mental breakdowns when exclusives get ported. It's ultimately just healthier for the industry when there's more competition. It drives innovation and prevents one company from dominating, stagnating, and enshittifying.

If every game was on every platform, people would just flock to the best one. That's what we're seeing happen with Xbox/PS and PC now.

>>716481945 (OP)
Really weird way to say that Nintendo won

The decline of the "console war" likely threatens game quality, as the incentives for platform exclusives (e.g. often free from excessive microtransactions) diminishes. This shift will further push Sony and Microsoft towards games prioritizing revenue generation over quality (i.e EA, T2, etc).

Why bother prioritizing high quality SP games that sell your system when you could be chasing multiplatform service game money?

>>716485471
That's their fault. Sony actually has a great back catalog of IPs. They just never spent the time of grow most of them

>>716486734
200-300m that you could only (potentially) take advantage of if the competition disappeared lol
the console space is simply not enough to sustain current game development

nintendo is a generation behind sony and microsoft in technology, and their games will be cheaper to produce based on that alone
add in the fact that their first party titles tend to be very basic and you get even cheaper
but they are still feeling it, the budget of a nintendo game today is certainly higher than the budget of a nintendo game 10 years ago. And that's not going to stop. Nintendo is simply behind the times, which is working to their advantage at the moment.

Competition exists in the PC space; Intel/Nvidia/AMD compete based on things like functionality and performance, not locking games away to a specific graphics card
Sorry but it is very difficult to look at two consoles that have basically interchangeable tech and justify exclusivity. It is really silly.

>>716483239
your idea is completely illogical and defies human psychology. There has to be a legitimate reason why customers continue to buy Nintendo for decades.
Despite whatever grudge you have against them, they are obviously consistently filling a need their customers have.
Most Nintendos have been Zelda machines for me, because Nintendo has been consistent in its care for the franchise.

>>716487398
>200-300m that you could only (potentially) take advantage of if the competition disappeared lol
You're retarded. Each console manufacturer doesn't sell the same over time. They're competing for different sized wedges of this 200m-300m pie each generation. Sony grew at the expense of Xbox the past 2 generations, for example.
>the console space is simply not enough to sustain current game development
This is complete bullshit. It only takes a couple of million sales for most games to be profitable.

>nintendo is a generation behind sony and microsoft in technology, and their games will be cheaper to produce based on that alone. add in the fact that their first party titles tend to be very basic and you get even cheaper. but they are still feeling it, the budget of a nintendo game today is certainly higher than the budget of a nintendo game 10 years ago. And that's not going to stop. Nintendo is simply behind the times, which is working to their advantage at the moment.
This is partially true. It's why Nintendo is outright saying they want to keep budgets where they're at and not over inflate them. Drive sales through game design novelty, not linear increases in graphics, scope, and budget in-turn. Pic related in >>716486734 was from their most recent investor Q&A.


>Sorry but it is very difficult to look at two consoles that have basically interchangeable tech and justify exclusivity. It is really silly.
I don't really disagree. It's why Xbox and PS have been bleeding users to PC for the past 15 years. Consoles need to become more unique, like how they were prior to the 7th generation. Even if it's not practical to have different tech architecture under the hood anymore (ala PS1 vs. Saturn vs. N64), they need to differentiate with unique hardware features and form factors.

>>716487398
>Competition exists in the PC space; Intel/Nvidia/AMD compete based on things like functionality and performance, not locking games away to a specific graphics card
This is all just graphics autism for tech faggots. It's too removed from actual game design.