Why Consoles Are Going Extinct

Since the creation of video games, no piece of hardware has been more important than the console. But with the console market in decline in recent years, what comes next?

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📃 Research Links
PS2 consoles used for weapons
Gamecraft episode 6 - Console Castles
Video game crash of 1983
Epic Games turned on cross play
Kodak lost market share
Blockbuster Could Have Bought Netflix for $50 Million, but the CEO Thought It Was a Joke
Sony won't budge on Microsoft-Activision merger objection
Xbox leak
KFC console
Nvidia Shield
China officially ends ban on video game consoles
China gaming market per platform
Twenty countries with the largest population in mid 2023
Market size of gaming in South Korea
PlayStation 2 - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Caddicarus @DidYouKnowGamin
Intellivision commercials
The First Console War - Atari vs Intellivision (1981) - Video Game Years History @PatTheNESpunk
Sega Genesis commercials @gamesyouloved
Console Wars - NINTENDO vs SEGA @Flashgitz
Crash Bandicoot Commercial at Nintendo
2001 - Xbox Console Reveal with The Rock and Bill Gates @NeoGamer
Microsoft's Embarrassing Xbox One Reveal 2013
Phil Spencer interview @KindaFunnyGames

[GameKnight]

I’m actually terrified of cloud gaming taking over. It doesn’t just get rid of consoles, it’ll severely limit or even kill game preservation. Cloud gaming will allow publishers to erase any game they want from existence on a whim, games are art even if some are bad art. Even the worst of the worst deserves to be preserved, if at least as a warning.

[mal]

The only real concern I have with the move from physical to totally digital gaming is the issue of ownership. The nice thing about my ps2 is all of the games that I bought I still have. But with all your games in the cloud, no matter how much money you pay, they could be taken away from you at any point for any reason and there's nothing you can do about it. I want to own my games, not rent them

[Reinvntngurxit]

The issue with this entire concept is that cloud gaming is dependent on insane Internet speeds, low latency, zero wifi connectivity (how many of your friends' consoles are hardwired?), and yet even after all of this, you STILL need hardware that can handle these things...

Saying things like "TVs and Phones can do the same"... No, they can't. There's only a handful of phones in the world that can properly use cloud gaming technology as it is -- and something lost in this scenario is the amount of people in this countries notes (India, China) are *low end android phones*... if these truly are the targets for Microsoft, they are sorely mistaken.

Gaming in "hardware that you already own" is not only foolish, but impossible:

I have a 4 year old Sharp TV with a built-in Roku and it can hardly run the Netflix app
My buddy's Samsung's TV can barely run a web browser for streaming video
Apple TVs do not come with a high end GPU to do anything other than 4k streaming

Nintendo and Steam have figured it out with the thing, and that's awesome, but guess what? It's still dedicated hardware

[gwimbly]

The mental gymnastics you had to go through to say the switch is not a home console are impressive gotta admit

[systemyt]

The day I can't buy a console and a physical piece of media is when I just start working through my 30+ year backlog.

[blackestyang]

"you never owned the game" marks the biggest gaslight of a self-fulfilling prophecy the industry wants to happen

and remember

*if buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing*

[RobertDunn]

As long as most of the world is still without reliable high-speed internet, including the United states, where our internet is not only fragmented but also fraught with data caps, then I don't see offline gaming going anywhere soon

[Telmarine]

You can discount the Switch as a 9th gen console if you wish, but that doesn’t take away the fact that they are eating XBox’s lunch. Failure to admit that will only continue Microsoft’s path to self destruction. This is an especially bad take on Nintendo. It’s the world’s first home console with full handheld capabilities. If that’s not a 9th gen innovation then I don’t know what is.

[maxwelllittle]

The law needs to catch up quickly to protect consumers - we are getting to the point where people do not own the game, their game data or even their privacy.

[majoraslayer]

Cloud gaming is the death of what gaming is to me. Young and future generations may find joy in it, and I understand as I get older I'm less the target audience than those younger generations. It's still sad for my generation to watch something we've loved die. Collecting and owning games you love is something that ties you to the hobby and community because what you collect on your gaming journey feels like a part of you.

[TupZZ-fegp]

weird mental gymnastics needed to say switch is a handheld.
It's a handheld AND a console.
Defined as a hybrid console

[luigi]

Saying the Switch isn't a console just because you know it's success completely dismisses your entire argument

[Ak-jslo]

A era of gaming where you can’t really own ur games and its a month to month subscription horrifying

[eepupm]

if digital only is the future
then ill happily stick to my past

[NOCLICKBAITISWEAR]

That Nintendo Switch take was EGREGIOUS!

[JAYJAYBEBE]

Consoles are going extinct? Tell that to Nintendo... The Switch is fastest selling console of all time. The PS2 has sold more units but it was available for 13 years (The Switch has only been available for 7). If we compare sales only over a 7 period scale, The Switch comes out on top.

[atimholt]

“The Switch isn't a console, because reasons.”

I really didn't get that part of the video. At all. Like, you didn’t say it, but are we supposed to agree that a portable console isn’t a console, or something? You know a *ton*, and I mean a TON of people (myself included) play the Switch almost exclusively in docked mode, right?

[Raducuoo]

It's crazy how you need constant updates and internet connection to play games nowadays anyway... It's sad

[Brian-wfxy]

I personally don't believe cloud gaming will ever fully replace gaming on native hardware. I think cloud gaming will be a meaningful extension of the console or PC experience, but to say we're about to willingly play next gen games on our small phone screens instead of a large TV or monitor with all the visual bells and whistles, offline, and with no compromises is just not what I see happening. There will always be a place for gaming hardware.

[IndirectHydrox]

How is Switch not a console? I can dock it, put a cartridge in it, and use a controller (not the Joycons) to play it on my TV. Kinda like...a...wait for it...
*
*
*
A console.