The Generation after this Generation

[Sylvie]

So, we all know that consoles are starting to cost an assload of money. Do you think the generation after this one is going to make it?

I'm not sure. If the prices keep going up, the game market will eventually crash. But if the economy changes it might not.

Discuss this thang here, ppl.

[Rocket Edge]

To be honest, i think people will pay anything within reason. Gaming is a nessesity in every-day life to alot of people, and i just don't see the demise of it coming for the sake of an extra few quid.

[RiseToFall]

To be honest, i think people will pay anything within reason. Gaming is a nessesity in every-day life to alot of people, and i just don't see the demise of it coming for the sake of an extra few quid.

I don't know, it's starting to get a little bit too pricey for me.

[Sylvie]

In a couple generations, it will be up to $1000 dollars or more. I don't know about you, but I'm not paying 1000 bucks for a console.

[Gnostic Yevon]

Well, I think it's going to decline greatly for a couple of reasons:


The extreme sameness of many games out there -- you've played on, you've played them all (per genre, of course)
-- The difference between Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors is pretty small, as is the difference between many action platform games. Eventually the market is going to be saturated with nearly identical copies of the "big name game of 20xx".

The "pay for content" pricing scheme. I know of one ps3 racing game that will cost full price, but if you want a car or a track in the game, you have to buy them online. Other games already charge for extra content.
-- Eventually I think this model is going to turn into "pay for use", either by requiring the user to pay to go to the next level or having the system require online activation and fees to keep playing. I can't imagine this is going to help make people feel good about buying games.

loss of free time amonst the generation that grew up playing games -- most of us are in college or farther, most people aren't going to be able to spend 2-3 hours gaming per day
-- The average gamer is 25+ now, and the trouble is that these gamers are soon going to be trucking the kiddies to little league after work cutting the lawn and so on, they won't have time for long gaming sessions.

High price -- most of the gaming crowd is soon to have mortgages and other expenses $50 on entertainment is going to be a rare purchase, and when it comes to $600 or more for the machine to play it on, the cost becomes much harder to justify.
-- Obviously gaming is entertainment, and if it came down to pawning the ps5 or not eating, most people choose to eat, especially with kids.

[XxSephirothxX]

I don't think that's true at all. Sure, any company is greedy, but they're not retarded. They're going to charge what they can get for the system.
The GameCube cost 200 bucks at launch; the Wii is only 250. The Xbox was 300 bucks at launch; the premium Xbox 360 was only 100 dollars more. Now, granted, Sony's making a bit of a pricing leap, but they're not the only people in the market.
Here's a chart of console prices (http://curmudgeongamer.com/imgdisplay.php3?shotfile=console-prices-relative.png), adjusted for inflation over the years. Assuming it's accurate, you'll see that this generation's systems are not all that expensive. Granted, the super expensive systems on that graph fialed miserably--and companies like Microsoft and Nintendo and Sony know this. They're not going to charge a thousand bucks unless they know a lot of people will dish out the big bucks for what they're offering. Unless we see some serious inflation in the next decade, I think console prices will stay in an affordable price range.

[Sylvie]

I hope they do. Because I think that the PS3's price is outrageous. I really want it, but its way too much. And by the time it's in my price-range, the next gen will be coming out.

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

Well if you're old enough to get a job you could do moonlighting and save up for about six or seven months or as long as it takes...If you're not old enough I don't know what to tell you except buy a Wii if you need a next-gen console that badly.

[Lynx]

well if they just stopped with ps3 and nintendo wii and xbox 360 i could live with that assumeing they keep putting out new video games for them. im guessing when im like 70 and see my grand kids playing the ps3 ill be thinking " i wonder when the ps4 is comeing out"?

[JKTrix]

I think we'll be reaching a graphical plateau soon. Once Photorealism is reached, where do you go from there? The graphics (and the processing power to support it) are what's driving up the costs of today's consoles. Once the plateau of Photorealism is reached, that cost aspect of consoles will decrease in expense and they'll have to do other things to warrant a reason to release new hardware (similar to what Nintendo has started with Wii).

[Rusty]

Gaming is getting to expensive - at least for me. When the PS3 comes out, I won't see if for a year or two. Even the games now are pricey. I can't afford to pay $100 for a game. So I went off to the DS, the games are usually pretty affordable and on special often.

I haven't bought a PS2 games in ages. The gaming companies really have to be smart about what they're starting to charge people, because most people will start to drift away from purchasing new game equipment.

[Giga Guess]

I never buy consoles at launch. First of all, I'm not mercenary enough to thuunder over a crowd of people that're all too willing to do the same to me, secondly, launch units are notoriously buggy, third, it's not often that there are any games at launch that appeal to me anyways, and fourth, and this is the most important to me, the price goes down. After Christmas is over, and they're done milking people, then the price invariably drops. A little or a lot, well that's the variable.

[Rainecloud]

I can't see the market being quite as healthy in another decade.

As for it dying completely? Nah...

[Xander]

The Wii is gonna be reasonable so... nah.. only the stupid consoles and who cares about those... :p *nintendofangirl ;_;*

[Gnostic Yevon]

I don't think that's true at all. Sure, any company is greedy, but they're not retarded. They're going to charge what they can get for the system.
The GameCube cost 200 bucks at launch; the Wii is only 250. The Xbox was 300 bucks at launch; the premium Xbox 360 was only 100 dollars more. Now, granted, Sony's making a bit of a pricing leap, but they're not the only people in the market.
Here's a chart of console prices (http://curmudgeongamer.com/imgdisplay.php3?shotfile=console-prices-relative.png), adjusted for inflation over the years. Assuming it's accurate, you'll see that this generation's systems are not all that expensive. Granted, the super expensive systems on that graph fialed miserably--and companies like Microsoft and Nintendo and Sony know this. They're not going to charge a thousand bucks unless they know a lot of people will dish out the big bucks for what they're offering. Unless we see some serious inflation in the next decade, I think console prices will stay in an affordable price range.

If you read what I said, it's not just zomg games cost more, but that a lot of gamers are going to be less willing to fork over money for consoles due to other factors.

If I only have 10 hours a week to play games, then $600 is a lot of money. and when you start adding in the cost of the games themselves, it goes downhill from there.

$600 (ps3), $25 (controller), $60 * 10 (games), $10*12 (internet connection), $10 * 12 (online play).

$1465 for next gen gaming for one year. assuming 10 games a year, add another $840 every year thereafter.
at 10 hours a week it's being used 520 hours a year, and for some people 10h a week is pretty high.

It adds up fairly quickly, not just because the cost goes up, but because the amount of use goes down too. Eventually it comes down to dollars per hour you actually play games, and sooner or later it's going to look like a huge expense for not as much return.

I won't say crash, like
This guy (http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/crash.html) does, but it's not going to be a mainstream entertainment option.

[Yamaneko]

I predict that within 10 years consoles will be twice as powerful, 1,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings in Europe will own them.