For the last decade, pundits have been claiming that every new console generation will be the last. One final hurrah for hardware, before the inevitable happens and we all move to the cloud. Dread it, run from it but destiny will still arrive in the form of a future where games are episodic piecemeal downloads tied to a subscription-based model.
Maybe that will happen. Maybe it won’t, but that’s a future which is likely as far away as can be for now as the facilities and global connection needed to maintain such mighty clouds just isn’t here yet. Vast portions of the world still rely on ADSL and LTE connectivity for their day to day browsing, with fibre to the home being a slow evolution due to the massive trenching required which pisses your dad off immensely when he comes home and sees his front yard being dug up.
Dad come on, it’s for progress and so that I can view my nasty Rule 34 content even quicker. No dad I’m not telling you what Rule 34 means DON’T GOOGLE THAT. Anyway, the point of all this is that we’re likely going to be spending a fair amount of coin on gaming console hardware for years to come, no matter what Google tells you as they attempt to sell a Stadia subscription to your face. “I do think getting to a world where you don’t have to own one device to play specific games helps the industry,” Spencer said on the Game Maker’s Notebook podcast via GamesRadar.
That doesn’t mean that owning a device isn’t part of my gameplay experience. I think I’m gonna have a game console plugged into my television for the next decade-plus. I think it’s going to be the best way for me to play on my television – to have a local device, download the game, and play. But sometimes I’m not in front of my television, sometimes I’m not in front of a device that has the native capability to play.
And that’s our bet on cloud.
Long story short? Chances are that the Xbox Series X will be Microsoft’s main console for much of the 2020s, but it won’t be the last piece of gaming kit that Microsoft produces. Unless something goes catastrophically wrong I guess, like Disney buying the company and rebranding the Xbox as something that I’m not currently witty enough to guess due to my present condition of having only had one cup of tea so far.
Last Updated: March 2, 2020
MechMachine
March 2, 2020 at 15:23
Phil Spencer always has a smug look on his face and the last time MS tried to shove the cloud down our throats, it didn’t take.
It comes down to what’s viable. And the way I see it, it’s a long way off.
Streaming a friggen video game is far removed from streaming a tv show.
Son of Banana Jim
March 2, 2020 at 16:15
I don’t understand why the guy is always lauded as such a visionary when every single time he puts his foot in his mouth. It was hilarious during the Cloud saga, and it’s going to be even more so during the Streaming saga. They’re going down the same route of absolute failure with streaming; It’s a pipe dream, and a desperate attempt to corner a market that just isn’t viable for 90% of the world outside of a few tech hubs across the globe.
Most of the world can’t even service and maintain their aging rail systems, and now you want them to instantly gain access to the top most tier of internet speeds? LOL!
I can understand Google being this foolish. Stadia was always just a vanity project, and I doubt the higher ups at Google see it as anything but some sort of paid-for tech demo.
MechMachine
March 2, 2020 at 16:15
Agreed.
Pofadder
March 3, 2020 at 10:57
“like Disney buying the company and rebranding the Xbox”, yeah like that can happen. Microsoft is worth 10 times more than Disney.