“Console sales are down. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella marked a 26% decline in spending on current-generation consoles this April compared to last April.”
We’re 4 years into the generation, sales declines aren’t uncommon, but this gen has had unique challenges:
Covid fucked it all up. Supply chain issues screwed availability, software engineering ganked game development.
Too much emphasis on “Cross Gen”. Why would someone scramble to get a hard to find PS5 or Xbox Series when the same game is out on PS4/Xbox One X?
Long generations are kind of the new thing, starting with Xbox 360/PS3. Previously they were around 5 years and people are looking for the next machines now.
Microsoft and Sony force them to develop for the lowest spec gen, so no you cannot play on your PS5/X whatever because PS4 and One X cannot run new game engine.
I somewhat understand what you are talking about but the buggy and poorly maintained Elite Dangerous isn’t the best example to support your argument. BG3 getting a pass on some features for the series S is exactly what other games should be able to do if it makes sense for them.
I think we’re too far out to blame supply chain issues. PS5 is lagging behind PS4 at the same point in its life by about 20M consoles. #2 is both a symptom and a cause. Developers across the entire industry have bloated their development timelines. That means fewer games and less reacting to consumer tends. When do you think Concord started development, for instance? And do you think it still would have been made if it started after Overwatch 2 came out?
Plus, consumers seem to be gravitating toward the less restrictive open standard. If you’re in Sony land, you need to replace your old controllers, even though they still work; you have to pay for online play; backwards compatibility is a bit of a dice roll, and if you want features as similar as higher resolution textures and better frame rates, they’re going to sell you a remaster rather than just letting you turn up the settings. In ruling over their walled garden ecosystem and trying to extract more money from it, they’ve given players more and more reason to play on PC.
“Console sales are down. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella marked a 26% decline in spending on current-generation consoles this April compared to last April.”
We’re 4 years into the generation, sales declines aren’t uncommon, but this gen has had unique challenges:
Covid fucked it all up. Supply chain issues screwed availability, software engineering ganked game development.
Too much emphasis on “Cross Gen”. Why would someone scramble to get a hard to find PS5 or Xbox Series when the same game is out on PS4/Xbox One X?
Long generations are kind of the new thing, starting with Xbox 360/PS3. Previously they were around 5 years and people are looking for the next machines now.
Pretty sure the shortest time between Playstation consoles was 6 years (PS1 > PS2 & PS2 > PS3.) Then 7 years for both PS4 and PS5.
Playstation consoles are weird because Sony just can’t let go of old hardware (unless it’s the PSP).
The PS1 was in production from 1994/1995 (Japan/US) to 2006(!) So it technically overlapped both the PS2 and PS3(!)
PS2 ran from 2000 to 2013.
PS3 2006 to 2017.
And people cry when games like Elite Dangerous drop console support.
Microsoft and Sony force them to develop for the lowest spec gen, so no you cannot play on your PS5/X whatever because PS4 and One X cannot run new game engine.
They were never more than 20% of the player base.
Also get your free PC copy Here 🥹
I somewhat understand what you are talking about but the buggy and poorly maintained Elite Dangerous isn’t the best example to support your argument. BG3 getting a pass on some features for the series S is exactly what other games should be able to do if it makes sense for them.
No they don’t. If the developers wanted they could have dropped support for the last gen versions for newer updates (like what cyberpunk did).
Also for what it’s worth they even had a ps4 trailer for the Odyssey dlc.
I think we’re too far out to blame supply chain issues. PS5 is lagging behind PS4 at the same point in its life by about 20M consoles. #2 is both a symptom and a cause. Developers across the entire industry have bloated their development timelines. That means fewer games and less reacting to consumer tends. When do you think Concord started development, for instance? And do you think it still would have been made if it started after Overwatch 2 came out?
Plus, consumers seem to be gravitating toward the less restrictive open standard. If you’re in Sony land, you need to replace your old controllers, even though they still work; you have to pay for online play; backwards compatibility is a bit of a dice roll, and if you want features as similar as higher resolution textures and better frame rates, they’re going to sell you a remaster rather than just letting you turn up the settings. In ruling over their walled garden ecosystem and trying to extract more money from it, they’ve given players more and more reason to play on PC.