While I’m not normally one to chalk hardly anything that Hideo I’m-On-Crack Kojima says up to rationality, occasionally he says something just wild enough that it’s worth a second look. After all, this is the same guy who said he wouldn’t be doing Metal Gear Solid 3 or 4. And yet, here we are reading updates about Peace Walker, the new PSP entry into the popular sneaking franchise.
Anyway, at yesterday’s press conference for the portable game, Kojima had a few rather bold claims to make about the future of gaming. In short, he basically said that soon, we won’t have consoles any more. O rly? Check out the quote.
In the near future, we’ll have games that don’t depend on any platform. Gamers should be able to take the experience with them in their living rooms, on the go, when they travel — wherever they are and whenever they want to play. It should be the same software and the same experience.
I certainly hope this quote is mainly coming from his desire to promote the new portable game that he’s making, rather than having any kind of insider knowledge about new technology. But like I said, I don’t put much stock in anything the guy says. I think the more interesting point of discussion here is the idea that people would ever transition from home console gaming and PCs to handheld only. It seems like such a niche market to me, I can’t see it ever becoming the mainstream way to play games.
So what do you guys think? Just promoting his game? Being a loony (not the Canadian kind)? Or is he a Gamestradamus, predicting our console (or no console) future?
Source- VG247
Kojima stay away from game politics and go back to the studio, mkay?
As great as it (may not) sound, I don’t think that portable gaming will every surpass at least PC gaming. It might get up to par with some of our present day consoles, but I don’t think it will take away from any of them. People will still want to do split screen on the big 42″, or use their custom keyboard and mouse.
Oh I’m in complete agreement with him, it just depends on how ‘near’ the ‘near future’ is. I can see transporting media from one format to another and still using it on the move.
It seems like a pretty bold statement to say that Portable Gaming will kill home consoles, but let’s not understate how large a market portable game systems are. After a brief check of wikipedia:
~39 million Xbox360s sold as of Jan.
~33 million PS3s sold as of Dec.
~67 million Wiis sold as of Dec.
~60 million PSPs sold as of Mar.
~125 million Nintendo DS’s sold as of Dec.
The Nintendo DS almost DOUBLES the sales of the Xbox360 and the PS3 combined. While the handheld market is definitely a colossus to be reckoned with, though, I still find it hard to swallow that it’ll make the bigger systems worthless. Even if you can get the same hardware from a PS3 into a tiny, compact gaming system, gaming all the time on a tiny screen isn’t as fun as when you can do it in a living room with a huge screen, and not to mention the multiplayer which becomes much more complicated when playing on a handheld system.
Handhelds simply trade way too much in order to achieve portability for them to dominate the console market. Though honestly I don’t see where there would be anybody trying to make a decision between the two. They’re practically separate markets directed at completely different people. With all due respect to the man, I just think Kojima is trying waaay too hard to promote his next games by saying that handheld is the way of the future, but in doing so it almost sounds like he’s trying to make an excuse for his games being used on handheld systems. It’s like if I were to make a game on the PC and say that PC will soon sodomize the console market into extinction because it’s the way of the future. It doesn’t make sense. The two markets have been coexisting for literal decades.
tl;dr version: Kojima is promoting his product by saying that the market he’s suddenly choosing will devour the other market that it has coexisted with perfectly and that it can’t even really be compared to all that well. And I’m baffled by it. And even the tl;dr version of my post is getting long :\
John, really great comment. You’re right I didn’t factor in the huge sales of handhelds into all this, but you are also right by saying that there’s no way it could swallow up the current console market. I really do think he’s just blowing this bigger to promote the actual game. I can’t ever see people eventually giving up the TV experience in its entirety.
For the sheer reason that handhelds can’t physically have the same degree of performance as stationary consoles, they will probably never kill off stationary consoles as long as we have screen-based video games (as opposed to simulators). Also, handhelds have to be small, which can hinder the experience because the screen is smaller which can’t engross you as much as a larger screen can, and sometimes handheld games can be more awkward whether its control issues (like the iPhone and having to smudge and obstruct the screen just to press the tiny pseuobuttons), but definitely because handhelds need batteries which are less of a stable source of energy than home power because the batteries have a limit on the energy while the home just has a limit in terms of connection and cost.
There will always be a place for both
Again with the Gamestradamus =).
I’m with Anthony. Although, the push of everyone having a smartphone with them and doing little time-killers on there certainly helps to bring “portable games” to waaay more people now. I have friends who don’t know who Gordon Freeman is, showing me shooters on their phones and iTouches. Neat stuff sometimes.