How changing gaming habits may dampen the party for Xbox One and PS4?

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Xbox One and PS4 are here and looking at the look of things, they don’t seem to be going away in a hurry. Both the consoles are selling like hot cakes with each able to rack up sales of 1 million units in just 24 hours. Those are impressive numbers for any consumer device. There have been estimates that both the consoles would be easily able to outsell their predecessor. Going by that estimation, the newly launched consoles are going to be huge hits considering the fact that both Xbox 360 and PS3 have managed to sell around 80 million units individually. Those are big numbers.

All seem to be rosy for MS and Sony but is it really so? I mean, yes the new consoles have got a rousing reception but is that not also due to the huge pent up demand that has been building for the last 3 years. This has been the longest console cycle ever, extending well over 3 years from the generally accepted norm. That has resulted in a huge demand for new hardware for the devoted fan boys. Considering these theories, it was almost certain that whenever a new console is launched, it would be greeted with open arms. And that has happened. So what’s next?

A lot has changed over the last 8 years when the Xbox 360 was launched. For one, a certain Apple along with its quarreling sibling, the Android, has captured and ruled over the attention of the masses. Gaming has evolved from being confined to the living room to be present on train, stations, offices, shopping malls and practically everywhere humans have been. Simply put, the gaming habit of the average gamer has evolved. The smartphone and the tablet along with the consoles have become the main gaming machines. Yes, it is true that the level of engagement or the kind of games is not the same when mobile gaming is compared to consoles. But that does not take away from the fact that people are getting their compulsory doses of gaming away from their consoles. Also mobile games are doing an increasingly good job at delivering nearly the same kind of experience as got from a console game. Not same but nearly. Games like Reptide GP or Prince of Persia Shadows & Flames allow me to have a deep gaming experience without switching on my console.

A lot may say that mobiles would never be able to catch up to the kind of games that consoles deliver

and I would agree with them. But the question is that are we really concerned about the hardcore devoted gamer who crave for that kind of experience? He will anyway play on his console. But what about the not so devoted gamer? If he is getting nearly the same kind of experience at a fraction of the cost and at his choice of convenience, it would be tough ask to compel him to invest hundreds of dollars on a new gaming device. Many gamers game because it allows them to escape their routine life and get into a world of fantasy. If their phones are allowing them to do just that whenever they please to, would they be willing to go back to their consoles? The answer is not absolute but it’s a “Maybe No”.

It’s not all gloomy for consoles. I think that they would survive and grow as well but maybe not at the same pace at which they have grown over the past generations. They would need to do things differently this time around. For one, they would need to integrate the different mobile devices as second screens in their platforms. The mobile devices need to be an important integrated part of the consoles. Games need to designed and developed in such a way that they would make use of both the consoles as well as the user’s smartphone. The experience needs to be connected. For Microsoft, the Surface and Windows 8 phones become so much more important. The same goes for Sony’s PS Vita. If they can find some way to meaningfully integrate the mobile devices in their whole ecosystem, gamers may see a lot of added value in buying the new consoles.

While doing so, both Xbox One and PS4 need to deliver better & more of what they have been known for: great quality games. They need to up the ante so much that the gamers would find the difference in quality between the mobile and console games big enough. That would make it much harder for them to ignore the consoles. Bigger better games should be a huge help for the consoles. They would also need to give a lot of space to the Indies as that’s where the real innovation lies. Again care would need to balance the price point with the value offering so as not to dilute the value of their bigger brother, the AAA games.

With so much going on in the industry, so many new developments almost everyday, it would be very difficult for anyone to guess one clear-cut winner. The whole ecosystem is changing, and changing fast. The one who would be able to adjust and adapt would be the one who is more likely to succeed. Change is here and its forever. In the famous words of Friedrich Nietzsche: “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” 

Siddharth has been playing games since forever and loves it so much so he decided to make a profession out of it. After completing his MBA, he decided to join EA to learn the ropes of the industry. A Game Producer and Game Designer by profession, while not playing games, he loves to read about them, watch movies and spend quality time with his family. His passion for writing led to the creation of this blog.

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Why do we need PS4 and Xbox One to succeed?

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We are on the doorstep of the next generation of consoles. Both Xbox One and PS4 would be launched within a month to eagerly awaiting gamers. Massive number of both the consoles has been preordered. The estimate is that the number of preorder is at least 2 times more than the last generation. Going by the media hype, the coming generation promises to get a huge launch, with both the consoles selling millions of units.

However, this success would continue for a long term is another question all together. A lot would depend on how the consoles can differentiate from one another in terms of feature sets, the kind of games and software that they are going to make available and the overall value they can provide. I am sure that both the companies with their extensive marketing and research teams would have figured these points out, at least in their strategies.

Personally, I believe that it’s really important for both the consoles to succeed in the coming generation. There are multitudes of reasons for believing so. One of the major reason why I want the generation to succeed is that it has the capacity to really expand the revenue potential of the industry. Along with increasing the revenue of the industry, it also stands to bring new kinds of integrations between software and hardware, especially considering the fact that both the consoles are being touted as entertainment devices fit for the living room. The last boom enjoyed by the industry was when the last console generation was launched, back in 2005. The upcoming generation promises to bring the good times again.

A host of platforms have emerged since the launch of the last generation of consoles. Companies, which were primarily developing for consoles are now also developing for all kinds of platforms, like IOS, Android and Social. The success enjoyed by the upcoming generation would bring in a lot more money, which can be invested in developing great games for these platforms. The whole industry would benefit from the success of one segment just like the success of mobile gaming has allowed companies to sustain in consoles during the last 2 years. It’s a win-win situation for all the different segments of the industry.

What more could the success of Xbox One and PS4 bring to the industry? Mobile gaming can learn a lot from console gaming like AAA production values, the different ways in which player engagement

can be implemented which allows console games to hook on the players for hours, the art of story telling. There are a lot of things that can be learnt from consoles. Consoles could also learn a lot from mobile gaming, especially in the way the games can be socially integrated along with adoption of different business models. The only way this learning process can continue is if the two very different segments co-exist.

As a gamer, I would really love for Xbox One and PS4 to succeed. They are the epitome of gaming and allow me to have and play games that are just not possible on any other platform. It keeps the gamer inside me alive and kicking. Don’t get me wrong. I love mobile gaming. Clash of clans, Deer Hunter, Dead Trigger, Cut the Rope are some of my favorite games of all time. I love playing them. But they are not Call of Duty, GTA, Battlefield and they would never be. These are the games that top everything else I would want to do in my spare time. And I would want to keep on having them forever. Mobile gaming, though brilliant, still doesn’t have the legs or the shoulders to carry the industry. For the sake of diversity that allows so many different kinds of experiences for the same player, lets just hope that both Xbox One and PS4 are a huge success, endearing us for many more years to come. Looking forward to the good times again.

Siddharth has been playing games since forever and loves it so much so he decided to make a profession out of it. After completing his MBA, he decided to join EA to learn the ropes of the industry. A Game Producer and Game Designer by profession, while not playing games, he loves to read about them, watch movies and spend quality time with his family. His passion for writing led to the creation of this blog.

To know more about the latest in games, reviews and news, please visit http://www.facebook.com/videogamesunlimited

Gaming on the Go: How connected experiences would shape this industry

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EA announced recently that it’s working on a high end Battlefield game for mobile. As per a report on Polygon: "We are working on a mobile game of Battlefield that will be high-end and high performance," Gibeau said. "It's our bet that we can successfully pull that off. But we're embarking on something no one has ever done before — to get these games to inter-operate between platforms. Will it work? It already has in some cases. Will it work for all franchises? Not all franchises will make the transition. Battlefield might be a little harder." What does it mean for gaming? Is it the advent of something new or just an announcement to create the hype?

With the evolution of games, the increase in the number of gamers & the proliferation of the variety of devices, I believe that the next possible step in evolution should be the games that people can play across the different platforms available. What would be awesome is that I can stop playing my favorite game on my console, switch it off and then on the way to my office, I can pick the game up again on my iphone. That would be completely awesome. It would allow me the chance to keep on playing my favorite game without the breaks enforced by the platform restrictions. “The player should never stop playing”, this is the dream of every game developer. Making the game functional across different platforms would be a huge step in this direction.

How would this be beneficial to the developer? I think the answer is obvious that it would allow the players to have a continuous experience. But is the extra effort required to make the game cross platform justified? I think so. The biggest problem that most games face is the number of competition for the limited gaming time of the player. This holds true especially for console games which is facing huge amount of competition from mobile games that offer great affordable experience. If the console games can somehow manage to take up the time spent by its player on mobile in playing their own games, I guess they would be in a much better situation as far as competing for the game time is concerned.

The benefit for making games cross platform are huge but they should not be forced for all kinds of games. I think the mobile counterpart of the console games should be able to offer quality experience & value addition to the overall game. If not then it would appear forced and would be quickly shunted by the community. It would work best where there is a lot of social interaction or where the player can decide on some strategy for the upcoming mission. Lets take an example to elaborate this point. Consider making a first person shooter where the player has to go through the different missions. While the main game would be played on the console at home which would involve most of the action, the player can take up various other parts of the game like procuring ammo, training the character to acquire different skills or getting help from allies (could be a social component) on their smart phones. This would allow a continuous experience & hence be involved with their favorite game longer. A win-win situation for both the developer & the player.

While creating these kind of connected experiences, some more points would need to be taken care of. The mobile experiences should be designed in such a way that it would be run on different kind of devices. It should not be too process intensive that it is compatible with only a few high-end configurations else it runs the danger of not being mass adopted. Also it should not given an undue advantage to a gamer with a high-end mobile device as compared to someone with a simpler smartphone. If the platform or the OS is the same, it should provide the same experience.

Connected experiences would be a huge step forward for gaming. I would love to play a game or enjoy a universe that doesn’t make me stop just because I am not at home or not connected to a particular system. I would love to keep on playing, only stopping when I want to & I believe there are many more like me. Hopefully the great minds in this industry would manage to come up with something that fulfills just that & take the giant leap forward.

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Siddharth has been playing games since forever and loves it so much so he decided to make a profession out of it. After completing his MBA, he decided to join EA to learn the ropes of the industry. A Game Producer and Game Designer by profession, while not playing games, he loves to read about them, watch movies and spend quality time with his family. His passion for writing led to the creation of this blog.

To know more about the latest in games, reviews and news, please visit http://www.facebook.com/videogamesunlimited

What does the success of GTA 5 mean for the industry?

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GTA 5 is out, GTA 5 is awesome and GTA 5 is selling like hot cakes. One of the highest rated games on Metacritic; the game has proved to be a darling for both the critics as well as the masses. Proof of the fact is it’s sales figure that has never been seen before on Xbox 360 and PS3. GTA 5 has managed to gross a billion dollars in just 3 days & thus has become the biggest entertainment launch in history, turning the attention completely from casual gaming to console hardcore gaming among the gaming fraternity.

But the game is not without controversies. The game has been branded as misogynist by the haters with a lot of people generally despising its portrayal of women. True the game may contain content that may not be acceptable to a huge population but the sales and ratings show that the same content is highly appreciated by another huge set of people. That being said, the success of GTA 5 is great news of the industry as it goes on to prove a few things.

1. Consoles are not dead: First and foremost, the humongous sales of GTA 5 show that the console industry is far from dead. It is in fact living with plenty of great signs of glowing pink health in the future. GTA 5 proves that if you are willing to take the risks, invest huge amounts of money (nearly $250 million) in development & come up with a game which is excellent in all aspects, you are not only going to recover your investment but also net a huge pile of profit. It replaces faith back on the good old days of game making where the developers didn’t really care about the quick hot noodle type of game making where the mantra of success lied in getting the game out as quickly as possible in the market without investing too much time & resources in it so that if it fails, we don’t lose a lot of money. GTA 5 proves again that if you were ready to bit your time to deliver a finely tuned game, audience would flock to it.

Yes, it is a proven franchise. True that it already has it set of loyal followers. But the adage that quality sells holds true today even for newer franchises. Look at the success of games like The Last of Us and Dishonored. Quality games that have not only sold well but have also given rise to franchises with much more potential for the future.

2. Being different is good: Secondly it provides evidence that success in this industry would not only come by making games keeping the masses in mind. Niche games, which can be controversial and not according to the taste of the masses can also sell huge numbers and make a lot of money. There have been many controversies about GTA 5 with a lot of people against the general theme of the game. But there is also another set of people who love to play these kinds of games, do stuff in the game that they would not want to do in the real world. These games have their own set of audience with a lot of them being extremely loyal. It creates high potential franchises as they find it much easier to differentiate from the crowd. Not every game needs to focus on the largest possible customer base as companies like EA and Activision has not faced the test of time by just creating casual games.

3. Diverse audience tastes: Thirdly, the success of GTA 5 is heartening as it suggests that gaming has a very wide audience base with different tastes. It is very important for any medium to provide different kind of content, which would be acceptable to different kind of people. This is really important for the mass acceptance of the medium. When more games like Angry Birds that cater to the casual audience, primarily female and kids & games like GTA 5, which mainly focus on the male gamers, succeed, it expands the horizon of gaming and brings more people into the industry. More and diverse kind of people trying and hooking to games can only be great news for the industry.

GTA 5 is controversial but so was Da Vinci Code. Controversy sells as it allows you to be recognized. GTA 5 is different but so was Thank You For Smoking. Its important as it protects you from getting lost in the crowd. And GTA 5 is great content. And we all know that “Great Content” always finds its own audience.

Siddharth has been playing games since forever and loves it so much so he decided to make a profession out of it. After completing his MBA, he decided to join EA to learn the ropes of the industry. A Game Producer and Game Designer by profession, while not playing games, he loves to read about them, watch movies and spend quality time with his family. His passion for writing led to the creation of this blog.

To know more about the latest in games, reviews and news, please visit http://www.facebook.com/videogamesunlimited