Xbox Exec Thinks Handhelds Are a Bad Bet
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
I disagree as I am eagerly awaiting the release of the Vita.
I agree with the above posters though, MS failed at handheld gaming so they just brush it off as a bad bet instead of trying again.
I agree with the above posters though, MS failed at handheld gaming so they just brush it off as a bad bet instead of trying again.
Oh sure, they're doing fine, but the question is whether it's worth putting all that new investment into it. With Sony's new Vita and development for the 3DS, it feels like money wasted. I've really lost count of how many iterations of handhelds we've had over what feels like a single generation. The PSP, The PSP GO (which was abandoned by Sony, figure that one out) and now the Vita, with Nintendo having made the DS, the DSi, the DSi XL, and now the 3DS. And probably a 3DSi in the next year or so.Dexiro said:
Really, the amount of rehashes is almost pathetic. It makes me question why two of the big three are pumping so much money into the handheld market. Not to mention that by doing so they are actively competing with Apple and other handheld platforms. It just puzzles me and i can't help but feel that perhaps the industry has got itself in a rut. Maybe it still thinks the handheld market is a cash cow, or maybe they're just having troubles transitioning into the next generation. Smart money says the next "big thing" will be 3D. I can't help but suspect the big three are looking to the 3DS and to a lesser extent Sony(Killzone 3 being a prominent example of the start of home console 3D display), to see how integration will be received. The 3DS is essentially an experiment. A really expensive experiment. The fact sales for it are under-performing suggests that 3D is not having as big of an impact as the industry giants had hoped. This means they can't afford to focus on the next generation just yet and so prolong their profiteering with a different market - the handheld. Microsoft are even doing this, to a degree, with their Windows Phone 7 or whatever it is.
The problem people are having with this statement is that they're not looking at the bigger picture. They're thinking of the present and the past, not the future. Sony and Nintendo might be putting on the squeeze right now, but as with any industry, it's all about investment. The handheld market is a dead end. People want the PS4, not the Vita. Nintendo wised up; they went ahead with the WiiU. But they had the advantage of starting early, and they payed the price for it. The declined sales for the 3DS is evidence of this decline in the handheld market. It's reaching saturation point. Sony's playing catch-up, only it's not seeing the writing on the wall. The Vita will do just as poorly as the 3DS.
Thank goodness. I hate, hate, HATE handheld exclusives. It just isn't comfortable playing a handheld for 10 hours at a time, it is far more comfortable to relax and play a console game. Handhelds force you to hold your hands in a certain position relative to your face to play, console games don't. I have to choose between tired arms or a sore neck when playing handhelds. The only advantage handhelds offer is mobility, and comfort is far more important to me. Making a good game exclusive on handhelds when it could easily be ported to a console pretty much guarantees I won't play it, regardless of how much I want too. If they refuse to make a handheld, it just means there will be less good game concepts being wasted on handhelds.
yeah, like for years people wanted a Super Smash Bros. on the DS but it takes Nintendo a long ass time to develop it, so as soon as the Kid Icarus is released, Nintendo are gonna let the developer develop a new Super Smash Bros. for the WiiU and 3DS, I'm assuming it's cross-platform play, it'd be weird if it isn't.EverythingIncredible said:
While casual games do have better cost/profit ratios and more regular income than the traditional handheld games, the issue there is that most of them are totally reliant on popular game trends established by the innovators (and even the innovators just copy themselves once they strike gold), so overall, they're just echoes of the real games that they take their cues from.
It's going to be even worse for their market once their core gets tired of the same thing for the twentieth time and their direction is pulled elsewhere by the next trend.
While people may think that apps are the wave of the future, it will take real creative strength by the forerunners (or those who learn from them) to continually build on the quality so that their work isn't eventually taken for granted and thrown away just as easily as they were picked up.
It's going to be even worse for their market once their core gets tired of the same thing for the twentieth time and their direction is pulled elsewhere by the next trend.
While people may think that apps are the wave of the future, it will take real creative strength by the forerunners (or those who learn from them) to continually build on the quality so that their work isn't eventually taken for granted and thrown away just as easily as they were picked up.
3DS' problem is because there are few, if any, decent games for it. MS could probably get some decent launch titles, probably something under the Halo franchise, and it'd be fine. They just don't want to develop a new console. I don't really see why they should, though, because shooters are no fun on handhelds, and MS doesn't own any decent RPGs or strategy game developers I can think of. At least any more... if only there was a studio that made excellent strategy games... one that hadn't been disbanded...
To be fair, they hold a substantial voice on the PC, considering most people use XP or Win7 to game. It's kinda hard to compete with yourself. Also... the 360 is already out. Yeaaaaah.jck4332 said:
