Ultratwinkie said:
You think that everyone is suddenly okay now? Analysts have said time and time again customers are still scared to put money down on big items. Just because the crisis isn't happening doesn't mean everyone magically turned confident and rich.
And the fact publishers could also die brings a new issue. Who will make the games? Consoles need support day one or risk being unprofitable. If publishers go, they end up taking the games they would have made with them until other companies could scrounge up to afford it. Consoles cannot afford to lose any games or hope that someone will replace it quickly. These are huge companies, it will take a long time for another to take its place. In fact, it may never be replaced because PC gaming has kneecapped consoles when it comes to developer attractiveness. WHo would really want to make expensive games for consoles when you can make cheap and profitable games on PC? Its a game of chicken to be sure, it only remains to be seen who breaks first.
First party publishing wouldn't really work, you wouldn't be able to turn out the required games to keep your console afloat. You spent money, made little money, and hope your console debts can be paid off. Doesn't work that way.
When publishers isolate a platform, they aren't there for money. They are there for blood and to destroy an entire platform. They would find many ways to make people jump. If activision said "no call of duty" on the playstation when call of duty started to get really popular, the playstation would have been severely hobbled.
lack of DRM takes a backseat to games. Its the reason Origin has any users at all. So yes publishers could starve them out.
Of course not. there was no time in human history when "Everyone was okay". Yes, they are scared to take huge loans they wont be able to pay. i call that a good thing. maybe we can root the "living on a loan" type of life a bit. but thats a different topic. The crysis is over, you can stop blaming it for everything.
Publishers are not even making games nor are they essential to making games. they are the middleman between game studio and the consumer. one that in ever digitalizing matrket become more and more obsolete, so they fight tooth and nail to deny us the ability to control our purchases and contact with developers. we saw them suceed in musci industry, we can see them suceeding in movie industry, but we dont have to let them suceed in gaming.
the developers themself have often stated they got no interest in DRM or console wars and would be much more open on releasing it on a DRM free console. and lets not ignore all the independant and upcoming developers. sore most of them dont make AAA games, but do i really need to point out at Star Citizen and Minecraft again?
Consoles can afford to loose some games if that means their other games will sell to a much larger (judging from preorders 3 times higher at least) audience. as you said, they are big companies, and they can cover some loses if that means lots more profit in the future. heck, Microsoft has been doing just that for the last 10 years. and Sony completely ate up the failure of PS3 sales and havent gone bancrupt. Micorosft and Sony have huge part of thier business in other things than gaming, and as such they can easily cover the console loses if they see a future cash cow. and having a huge audience is a cash cow.
And as you say yourself PC is mroe attractive to developers and more profitable, then why doesnt the big companies go there? answer is simple - audience. consoles have more of it. (although to be frank i wish to see the day when PC goes back to being on top, but thats subjectivity)
First party has kept nintedo afloat, so you cant really spin this argument.
Call of duty, as much as it riled up on the internet, isnt actually that huge. FOr example god of war 3 sold more copies than all COD games combined on PS3. PC sales, who are praised as a "Shooter platform" is in fact dominated by The Sims. And it cant even come clsoe to scraching the sale fogures of big nintendo franchises. it may be the largest FPS, but it isnt as internet makes it out to be. WOW has more players than COD sold copies. Sure there would be fanatics. i know a person who bought a PS3 only for Last of Us. but they arent that numerous. as you said yourself, the average gamer doesnt care that much.
Origin was a smart push becasue it came with extremely anticipated game, and some people valued the game mroe than their freedom. however you cant really call Origin a sucess with what userbase it has and even those are the people who are forced into it by the publishers and never really use the "origin services" other tha "shut up and allow me to play the game".
