If Apple ever buys Nintendo, then Sony should start worrying. Until then, I doubt either will threaten the big boys.
Post-Google and Apple gaming service announcements, do you still think Sony/MS/Nintendo are in trouble?
- Thread starter zombiejames
- Start date
No, I don't think they're in trouble.
When I say that, though, I don't mean to say that I don't think Stadia and Apple Arcade don't have a place in the market. I'm feeling pretty certain that Apple Arcade is going to find a sustainable audience and gradually grow over time, assuming Apple hardware sales continue to be solid. I know Apple's steadily declining in annual hardware sales but I can kind of see the reasons why, but I don't think it's trending in a way that's going to lead to their demise based on hardware sales any time soon. I think the mobile market is on a continuing trend of maturity and will grow to break free from its current perception as a low-end gaming experience, and I think services like Apple Arcade are going to accelerate that maturity.
Stadia is unproven in real-world scenario for the most part. The beta from Project Stream and the variety of impressions about the service from GDC give a mixed feeling about how well it'll work when deployed to actual households on a big scale. If it works, I think it's similar to Apple -- it'll be well enough for some folks to cross a threshold and it might find a market, but I feel a lot less confident that it sustains over time. If anything, I can imagine potential flaws not being enough to dissuade initial interest in gaming, but as time goes on, I think the flaws in the end user experience will either encourage migration to dedicated hardware to continue to grow as enthusiasts or they'll just drop gaming entirely and maintain a periphery interest. I really don't know with Stadia.
The current big 3 have got what appear to be pretty steady platforms with healthy consumer adoption rates that I don't see as necessarily threatened by the introduction of Apple Arcade or Stadia. Xbox did lose a lot of market share and has aggressively invested in trying to maintain or earn consumer faith after squandering much of it at the outset of this gen, but I don't perceive them as being at any risk of downfall. Excitement about the future of the current 3 (Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft) doesn't seem to have waned in the face of the reveals of Stadia and Apple Arcade, but I do think people's dismissal of them is a bit misguided by the perspective of already being rooted in existing service structures. Stadia is a bit easier to dismiss outright due to its largely unproven performance and capability in "real world" scenarios, but Apple Arcade feels like a natural extension of mobile gaming to me, and I think mobile gaming rightfully gets maligned for providing comparatively low quality gaming experiences, BUT people tend to continuously overlook the actual engagement numbers and cash flow of the industry with delusions that its non-existent or some purity test about its validity and place in the marketplace. It may not carry a ton of overlap of audience with traditional approaches to gaming services, but it's definitely there and hasn't really gone anywhere but up since it started -- Apple Arcade makes perfect sense and I think it's going to do well as long as Apple hardware sales don't start to just absolutely tank.
When I say that, though, I don't mean to say that I don't think Stadia and Apple Arcade don't have a place in the market. I'm feeling pretty certain that Apple Arcade is going to find a sustainable audience and gradually grow over time, assuming Apple hardware sales continue to be solid. I know Apple's steadily declining in annual hardware sales but I can kind of see the reasons why, but I don't think it's trending in a way that's going to lead to their demise based on hardware sales any time soon. I think the mobile market is on a continuing trend of maturity and will grow to break free from its current perception as a low-end gaming experience, and I think services like Apple Arcade are going to accelerate that maturity.
Stadia is unproven in real-world scenario for the most part. The beta from Project Stream and the variety of impressions about the service from GDC give a mixed feeling about how well it'll work when deployed to actual households on a big scale. If it works, I think it's similar to Apple -- it'll be well enough for some folks to cross a threshold and it might find a market, but I feel a lot less confident that it sustains over time. If anything, I can imagine potential flaws not being enough to dissuade initial interest in gaming, but as time goes on, I think the flaws in the end user experience will either encourage migration to dedicated hardware to continue to grow as enthusiasts or they'll just drop gaming entirely and maintain a periphery interest. I really don't know with Stadia.
The current big 3 have got what appear to be pretty steady platforms with healthy consumer adoption rates that I don't see as necessarily threatened by the introduction of Apple Arcade or Stadia. Xbox did lose a lot of market share and has aggressively invested in trying to maintain or earn consumer faith after squandering much of it at the outset of this gen, but I don't perceive them as being at any risk of downfall. Excitement about the future of the current 3 (Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft) doesn't seem to have waned in the face of the reveals of Stadia and Apple Arcade, but I do think people's dismissal of them is a bit misguided by the perspective of already being rooted in existing service structures. Stadia is a bit easier to dismiss outright due to its largely unproven performance and capability in "real world" scenarios, but Apple Arcade feels like a natural extension of mobile gaming to me, and I think mobile gaming rightfully gets maligned for providing comparatively low quality gaming experiences, BUT people tend to continuously overlook the actual engagement numbers and cash flow of the industry with delusions that its non-existent or some purity test about its validity and place in the marketplace. It may not carry a ton of overlap of audience with traditional approaches to gaming services, but it's definitely there and hasn't really gone anywhere but up since it started -- Apple Arcade makes perfect sense and I think it's going to do well as long as Apple hardware sales don't start to just absolutely tank.
I still think stadia will become a technology and service for publishers to stream their games rather than it becoming a major gaming brand in itself. I like the idea of streaming, I've been doing it with remote play for years. I think streaming the games I already own, to my mobile device, over 5G may be a better experience to me personally, I still like to own my games, I don't see that ever changing for many.
PlayStation Now is a great service in all honesty. Especially now that they've added full game downloads. It needs to be included with PlayStation Plus sooner rather than later though. Get rid of the free games and include PS Now instead. If Sony need to seriously compete, that's probably what they'll do, because let's be real, they are arguably making too much money from online play, something which was free to users last Gen.
PlayStation Now is a great service in all honesty. Especially now that they've added full game downloads. It needs to be included with PlayStation Plus sooner rather than later though. Get rid of the free games and include PS Now instead. If Sony need to seriously compete, that's probably what they'll do, because let's be real, they are arguably making too much money from online play, something which was free to users last Gen.
Stadia is explicitly outlined as a replacement for consoles, while Apple Arcade is presented as a standalone alternative.
Microsoft is chasing the market that Google and Apple have had all this time already. Sony...is whatever they are doing.
So it doesn't hurt if you never had. Microsoft will be looking to either eat some of their lunch or team up with them somehow. (One day putting Xcloud on Apple perhaps)
So it doesn't hurt if you never had. Microsoft will be looking to either eat some of their lunch or team up with them somehow. (One day putting Xcloud on Apple perhaps)
In my opinion, no.They're going for different markets. Besides, consoles always had the PC as a main competitor and that didn't hurt them.
The entire console industry as we know it is going to shit...
...but not because of Apple or Google or streaming....
...but not because of Apple or Google or streaming....
...rather, because of hottakes like this one.
After all that "stadia is a "threat" debate, it seems even apple gets it.
While annoucing its Apple Arcade and Apple TV +, they were emphasizing everytime that everything is downloadable and can be used offline, games, magazines and videos.
Even they know that the world today is far from ready for an online only choice of products.
While annoucing its Apple Arcade and Apple TV +, they were emphasizing everytime that everything is downloadable and can be used offline, games, magazines and videos.
Even they know that the world today is far from ready for an online only choice of products.
Last edited: