Dave Perry: Apple, Not Cloud Gaming Threatens Consoles

[Earnest Cavalli]

Dave Perry: Apple, Not Cloud Gaming Threatens Consoles

Gaikai founder Dave Perry wants to reassure customers that his company's cloud-gaming initiative is not a threat to their precious consoles. Steve Jobs however, is a different story.

"We don't think we're a threat to console. I think the threat to consoles is actually Apple," Perry said in a recent GamesIndustry.biz interview.

"I think the concern there is that they're generating hardware so quickly now. If you're creating and shipping new hardware every 12 months, and during that 12 months you're also giving pretty impressive upgrades, the features that people want, and you're giving them those every six months and hardware every 12 months, I think the idea that you would have five to seven years on hardware refreshes is becoming a technical problem."

Likewise, Perry sees Cupertino-based doom for handheld gaming devices.

"I find myself spending a lot of money on iPhone, and if you look at a handheld today, the ones that people keep making, they still make them as a gaming machine. Kids today ... don't want to carry anything that just does one thing. They carry their phone and it does everything. And so if you make single function devices, then you've got a problem. That's my concern for handhelds, is this single function side of it," he adds.

Like many of you I came into this interview thinking Perry's points would be hyperbolic insanity, but he makes a good argument here. Admittedly, it hinges on the idea that Apple would dedicate itself to exploiting the gaming industry full time -- and given the company's recent success in every other field of tech, that seems unlikely (... or does it?) -- but Perry is absolutely right.

If Apple had a console, no one would be able to compete with their design or manufacturing ethos, and consumers would buy the thing en masse purely based on technofetishism or social cache.

Of course, Perry does have a vested interest in promoting Gaikai's streaming, cloud-gaming services. If he sees Apple as a potential competitor, even for something as relatively minor as mindshare, it would be a smart business move to publicly decry their tactics.

Take Perry's words however you want. Honestly, I wish he was still just the guy who made Earthworm Jim. Things were a lot less complicated back then.

Source: CVG [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-08-08-head-in-the-cloud-interview]
(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/undertow851/5598814852/])

Permalink

 

[Waaghpowa]

If Apple had a console, no one would be able to compete with their design or manufacturing ethos, and consumers would buy the thing en masse purely based on technofetishism or social cache.

Does anyone remember the Pippin? I seem to remember it bombed harder than....sorry I had to avoid a really tasteless joke.

 

[Ewyx]

Apple will not go into the console market. Simple reason is, they don't consider themselves as a tech company, as much as a fashion company. Apple designs, marketing, and the way they sell their gadgets are closer to a fashion accessory compared to an all-around device. Smartphones have been around LONG before the iPhone, as have been tablet computers, however those companies were just trying to satisfy a need. Apple however, creates demand where there is none.

Then again, if Apple REALLY does enter the console market, more people might be turned onto games. Though I don't want to see restrictions for the games that they'll allow to sell for it.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

I just dont get all the fuss about Apple products and all that. They just seem to me like a bunch of overpriced pieces of white plastic that totes on about having "fewer viruses" when the reason for that is not impressive anti mal-ware and anti-virus capabilities but rather the fact that hackers couldn't give less of a shit about the 10% of people who use apple products when they could be exploiting the other 89% of people with Windows (yes, I know that leaves 1% of people, those people use linux, and are either the people who have the programming skills to make coplex viruses, or people with enough technical skills that hackers don't want to piss them off).

My plan is to just ignore apple until they stop being this huge fad and eventually die off when their customers realize how much they screw them over. Give me technology with a shelf life of 5-7 years any day, Id rather that than have to pay another 500 bucks for a new one every year.

 

[PixelJunk]

Interesting article. It's good to see that Gaikai is making a stand for their pitch. It's a damn good pitch when you think about it. Bleeding edge has never been an easy place to be when it comes to this industry. And you're absolutely correct on the apple fashion craze and the available technology being there before it.

 

[The Imp]

If Apple had a console, no one would be able to compete with their design or manufacturing ethos, and consumers would buy the thing en masse purely based on technofetishism or social cache.

And I thought this was already the selling point of gaming consoles in general. Stupid me.

 

[Doom972]

Apple is a threat to consoles? Gaming (PC and Console) is expensive enough without having to buy a new machine every year (and since this is apple, you know this will be the case). There may be a few nice games for the iOS but it doesn't make it a gaming platform (like minesweeper and solitare don't make Windows a game collection).

Cloud gaming has a good potential I haven't seen discussed - It could allow console-only or PC-only games to be played on PCs and consoles respectively. Everyone will still buy their preferred machine for its bonus features and games they would like to access offline and play the rest of the games using online cloud. This doesn't threat anyone since it really means people will be able to play more games and possibly buy more games.

 

[nadesico33]

I just dont get all the fuss about Apple products and all that. They just seem to me like a bunch of overpriced pieces of white plastic that totes on about having "fewer viruses" when the reason for that is not impressive anti mal-ware and anti-virus capabilities but rather the fact that hackers couldn't give less of a shit about the 10% of people who use apple products when they could be exploiting the other 89% of people with Windows (yes, I know that leaves 1% of people, those people use linux, and are either the people who have the programming skills to make coplex viruses, or people with enough technical skills that hackers don't want to piss them off).

My plan is to just ignore apple until they stop being this huge fad and eventually die off when their customers realize how much they screw them over. Give me technology with a shelf life of 5-7 years any day, Id rather that than have to pay another 500 bucks for a new one every year.

To be fair (and I'm not a member of the Cult either), the Apple tax is only half of the big markup, the other half is all the engineering R&D to get the tech into such small cases. Intel has recently come out saying that they want manufacturers to produce Windows toting ultrabooks (which ASUS and Acer have signed on to produce already) at the same form factor and power level as the MBAs, which I'm all for as I really don't like the aluminum/black color scheme of those unibodies.

Now if Apple did decide to come out with a home console, it would be like the WiiU, only without the controller buttons. Why? Because buttons are apparently antithetical to Apple's current design stylings. They would remove the iPhone/iPod Touch's home button, as well as the physical buttons on Mac keyboards if they thought they could get away with it. They can't (right now) as mobile OSes are not yet up to snuff for onscreen menu controls (though Honeycomb is a good start), and capacitive buttons are somewhat iffy too (I'm looking at you Samsung).

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I don't see how Apple is a threat to consoles, but he does bring up good points. The only problem I can see with that is Apple would be the fourth console on the market and that wouldn't bode very well for anyone, one console would have to drop out due to poor sales since there are too many on the market, and would confuse consumers as to not knowing which one they would want to buy.

However, I do see Apple cutting into the handheld market since right now the iPhone is pretty much a handheld gaming device with a phone application. The games are much cheaper and are just long enough and simple enough for everyone to play them, which is more than I can say for Sony's and Nintendo's handhelds where you have a higher investment in them because of the cost.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

"I think the concern there is that they're generating hardware so quickly now. If you're creating and shipping new hardware every 12 months, and during that 12 months you're also giving pretty impressive upgrades, the features that people want, and you're giving them those every six months and hardware every 12 months, I think the idea that you would have five to seven years on hardware refreshes is becoming a technical problem."

*Rolls eyes at the fact that this is the main reason I don't have an I-Phone or I-Pad.
I don't want to have to buy a new version of something I already own every year, that's not ideal for consumers, despite however Apple feels about this model. Also, I love to point out the obvious, but there's already a platform that updates it's technological requirements regularly, and that one let's me just buy the updated parts for it.

 

[ph0b0s123]

These comments miss a lot of understanding about the market. Is it true that mobile devices may over take consoles as far as a gaming market, sure. AAA's will still be console and PC territory.

But saying that the mobile market is all Apple is stupid. Apple is the biggest single handset and tablet manufacturer. But that stat hides something more important though. Android OS devices out sell Apple iOS devices about 3 to one. It is just that Android is on lots of different hardware from lots of different manufactures. So Apple has less of a base than Android does. So it is Google who are the ones to look at. Not Apple....

The only thing Apple have in common with consoles, is that they only do software that works on their hardware.

Google is very much like the PC model being rather open and allowing you to run the OS on lots of different hardware.

And this annual update thing will get less and less as the amount of power increase they can deliver each year plateau's.

So if this guy's understanding of the mobile market is not good, I take the rest of his comments with a pinch of salt as well.

 

[mjc0961]

u mad Perry? Nobody is going to buy the Apple game consoles when the new model that comes out every year constantly costs more than PS3 did at launch even though it's less powerful than a Wii because Apple sells underpowered hardware at an extremely marked up price.

Of course, what do you expect from some guy who builds an entire digital distribution platform around the always online DRM scheme and thinks it's a good idea? Obviously anyone related to "cloud" gaming isn't that intelligent in the first place.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

That is THE BEST picture of any apple in the universe evarrrr!
Oh, there was also a news story attached?

Yes, Apple are no good for gamers. Didn't you realize this when they banned Flash and Java?

 

[Doom972]

And this annual update thing will get less and less as the amount of power increase they can deliver each year plateau's.
.

I don't think so. The difference between each annual model and its predecessor seems very small: a slightly higher camera resolution, slightly better processor, etc.
They can already make a new model every five years but apple wants more money and as frequently as possible and they know that as long as the product has the apple icon, the iCult will buy it.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

"I think the concern there is that they're generating hardware so quickly now. If you're creating and shipping new hardware every 12 months, and during that 12 months you're also giving pretty impressive upgrades, the features that people want, and you're giving them those every six months and hardware every 12 months, I think the idea that you would have five to seven years on hardware refreshes is becoming a technical problem."

*Rolls eyes at the fact that this is the main reason I don't have an I-Phone or I-Pad.
I don't want to have to buy a new version of something I already own every year

Then don?t who says you have to buy the newest model every time it?s release?

Developers who want to take advantage of new technology.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I want the knife wielding apple please.

 

[Marudas]

I'd direct anyone who becomes disquieted by this article to the Extra Credits video "Consoles are the New Coin Op". Consoles fading is not a bad thing. It does not mean any less gaming occurs. More, actually, will probably occur. You just wont be sitting at any one particular box while you do it.