Is Nintendo the terminator of game consoles?

After three consecutive years of losses, Nintendo announced that it had made a profit in 2014. At the same time, Satoru Iwata also revealed that it was developing the next-generation console code-named NX and was working with DeNA to enter the mobile game market. To this end, Nintendo also plans to launch a cross-platform membership service this fall to ensure the gaming experience.

Recalling the story of Nintendo's revival of the game console industry with NES, Brian Crecente, founding editor of Polygon, recently expressed a beautiful but controversial viewpoint: "Game consoles should be terminated, and Nintendo is the force that should terminate them." Brian explained that game consoles, as a proprietary device designed specifically for electronic games, have caused more harm to the game industry than the benefits they can bring. After stating this point, he used the closed nature of the console platform and the problems caused by high licensing fees to prove it, and tried to compare it with the independent games that are flourishing on the PC platform...

However, the debate triggered by this comparison - the inherent debate between console players and PC players - almost makes people ignore the point the author originally wanted to make.

Console vs. PC

But these debates are not completely meaningless. On the contrary, a device that can end the game console must take into account the real demands of all these players. In this regard, we have sorted out some comments posted by foreign players on the forum. It is better to calm down and listen to the players' attitudes towards the two before moving on to the next discussion.

First of all, console players believe that it is more comfortable to play games on the sofa in the living room, and the console is more friendly when playing games - you only need to connect the TV to the console to start the game. PC players emphasize knowledge and effort. Polygon user TCrimson05t's original words are, "Anyone knows that building a computer by yourself will make you 40% better in all aspects of life, and increase your knowledge by 50%."

The second is closedness. User Chird said that the benefits of the closed system of the console are that the unified hardware standards allow developers to optimize the game better on the console, and the mandatory software certification of the console platform ensures better game quality. PCs sometimes do encounter graphics card driver problems and game crashes, but there are also many high-quality games on PC: "Civilization", "The Sims", "Counter-Strike", "Warcraft", "World of Warcraft", "Starcraft", "DOTA", "League of Legends"... Many games have brought out the unique operating skills of the mouse and keyboard, and the handle is not so common here.

Then there is the price. Australian player althaz believes that "at the price of 549 Australian dollars for the PS4, I can definitely build a PC with better performance." And user Humpledink also revealed another truth, "If you want to play all the games on the consoles, you have to buy all three consoles, PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. That costs much more than building a computer with enough performance and peripherals to run all the games."

In the preview version of the 2015 Global Game Market Report recently released by Dutch market research company Newzoo, the total revenue of PC games of $33.7 billion is indeed larger than the total revenue of console games of $25.1 billion. However, game consoles are indeed more convenient for gamers who don't like to play with their hands.

So the problem may not be that PCs are replacing consoles, nor that consoles are better suited to gaming than PCs, but rather, as player commonperson said, "We need to think outside the game market model that was formed in the 1980s." User gameshack also suggested that "console platforms should start working together."

Game consoles are evolving

In fact, game consoles have been evolving. In addition to games, both Xbox and PS4 support browsing more content on the console, and Wii U itself also supports applications such as Netflix and YouTube. As player ghostxlix said, "Console players are already using content outside of games. The problem is that you can't talk about what you want outside of games in the game community." User Gmr_Leon responded, "If the console platform intends to provide more content, then the quality of this content and its diversity need to be improved, but I haven't seen this improvement yet."

One problem with console games is the proliferation of DLC (Downloadable Content). Many games with low completion rates make money through high-priced DLC. Player BardicKnowledge said, "From the DLCs I've seen, Nintendo is actually making DLCs at a more reasonable price. This alone can win the hearts of many players. Many companies have lost the trust of fans on this point (look at yourself, Capcom)."

The PC platform is actually also learning and drawing lessons from the advantages of the console platform. Valve's Steam Box attempts to set standards for gaming PC hardware so that developers can better develop games, thereby better ensuring the quality of games on the Steam platform. The cloud gaming platform OnLive takes a different approach, running large-scale games in the cloud, and players play games through video streaming. Due to network limitations, this way of playing may not challenge the status of game consoles in the short term, but it is indeed a potential successor to game consoles. In the foreseeable future, game consoles and PCs will definitely coexist for a long time until a suitable device replaces them.

Is NX the end of gaming consoles?

What Brian wants to convey is that Nintendo has the courage and ability to make a different move in the console industry, but Brian did not give a particularly specific guess. So can the NX that Nintendo is developing really bring some changes to the console industry?

As for the cross-platform membership service that started first, since entering the mobile game market requires connecting mobile phones with Nintendo's own game platform, Iwata said, "It is through smartphone games and programs that more people around the world will know Nintendo." In fact, Sony and Microsoft can also do this. The remote game function of PS4 can support Sony's own Xperia Z3 mobile phone last year, and Microsoft has also begun testing Xbox applications in Windows 10 Mobile. However, Nintendo does not have its own mobile phone brand, and we will be able to use this service directly on iOS and Android phones.

Add more content to the console platform? Internet-based TV streaming services are what Apple is doing for its Apple TV, but what about directly integrating game live streaming services like Twitch? Considering the world championships that Nintendo just announced, this is not impossible. In terms of content, game consoles and TV boxes like Apple TV are increasingly integrating their functions.

At least we can see that Nintendo will no longer stick to the closed console platform, which is definitely a good thing for players. However, it may be too early to say that Nintendo can liberate the video game industry from the shackles of incompatible console protocols in one step and reshape the game industry again.

Konami, which has been making more noise in the gaming industry recently, has decided to focus on mobile games. To this end, Konami did not hesitate to kill the console game "Silent Hill PT" under development, and even completely drove away Hideo Kojima and spared no effort to block all information related to him. Whether it is Nintendo or Konami, a company entering the mobile game market does not seem to mean the end of the entire console market. However, for a mobile phone, a device that players carry with them, opening up the interaction between the console and the mobile phone is indeed something that console manufacturers need to seriously consider in the short term.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.