I recently read an article that said new gen consoles are out of date because they are not 4K. Well, that is not the big picture. Consoles in itself are obsolete. Period.
Okay, consoles are not completely dead yet, but they’re on life support. Microsoft is trying to go overseas with Xbox and there are new over-produced games every year like Destiny. The Nintendo guy is trash-talking casual gamers and going elitist. There are also some noobs trying to squeeze in like Ouya. But the fact is, consoles as we know it; that is, a loss-leader box and high-margin physical CD games that are getting more and more difficult to turn over, will be gone.
Like this guy who says the next big thing are things that are not really things, games will exist in digital form. We’re already exposed to this. Set-top boxes and Steam and elsewhere. GameStop is closing its doors. Some of the joy is gone. No better feeling than holding that new unopened game box in your hands. But that adds to the price. It also adds to the oligopoly that will also soon die. Whoever can achieve universality – whether it’s Amazon or Steam or whatever – will win.
It’s not there yet. Games on Amazon’s Fire TV is still weak. But it’ll get there. Sooner than we think. Nothing, not even 4K or 10K or whatever, can save consoles then on.