Especially when you read: which is likely to occur around [redacted])
This merger needs to be stopped dead in its tracks. If competition authorities allow this merger they're factually legalizing market abuse.
Counterpoint 2: The product is video games at the end of the day. It's not exactly as important as life saving drugs or internet service providers, where antitrust resources are more needed. There is an unlimited number of ways for consumers to entertain themselves.
Gotta love how everyone jumps on the regulatory block train.
Ouch that has to burn
The industry as a whole would be a lot better off if platform-studio vertical integration were banned, and strict financing-only co-ops set up as counterweights to EA/Activision accumulation.
A 7-year release cycle is normal though.
PS2 - 2000
PS3 - 2006
PS4 - 2013
PS5 - 2020
Xbox - 2001
X360 - 2005
XB1 - 2013
XB-SX - 2020
Oh, how is PS5 performance compared to 2022 midrange gaming PCs?
I remember some sort of benchmarks and for 2020 I think it was very competitive.
You cannot, today, get any good GPU for less than that price. An RTX3060 is $439 (if you can find one), the Intel Arc A770 is $350 if I remember correctly. A midrange gaming PC these days will easily cost you over a thousand dollars, more if you're still looking to get the scalped out cards.
Of course, it's awfully restricted, and dear fucking god I wish I could at least write custom software for it. A PS5 + Moonlight for streaming games that are on the PC still would be amazing.
Previous gen it made sense due to 4K TVs getting traction, this time even 2 years into the new cycle consoles are still hard to find, some have already even increased prices (PS5) and MS is already talking about them raising prices too.
Plus, not many truly next-gen games have been released so far.
You can say it's hard to find a PS5 at MSRP ($499 or $399 if digital) but it's still on a multi year (+5 at least) release cycle. Whereas the current iPhone generation (14) starts at $799 and $999. And next year you get a new one, and the next year another. And prices will increase too. I don't know the whole thing is just crazy to me.
Apple devices are supported for a long time and are essentially cheaper than most Chinese offerings that cost less than half the price of an iPhone.
People don't buy a new phone every year.
A lot of people buy $300 Android or previous generation iPhones.
A lot of people still do multi year contracts.
Most years the phones are just slightly updated versions of their predecessors, not complete new developments.
Console sometimes release updated versions as well.
Consoles need to be affordable for younger people.
Phone money is in hardware and micro-transactions. Console money is in game purchases. Consoles do best with a fresh slate every handful of years.
Besides that you're presupposing someone buys a new iPhone every year and that an iPhone doesn't have any more utility than a game console. Despite the capabilities of modern consoles they're mainly used for games and secondarily for streaming. For a not insignificant number of people their smartphone is their primary computing device. Smartphones are used for more and more often than gaming consoles. I also don't know a single person that buys a new iPhone every year. Even the most well off people I know that are iPhone fans upgrade only every other year.
Sony has had a weird history around backwards compatibility, Microsoft didn't really bother until the latest generation of their consoles, and Nintendo is pretty much allergic to the idea. Not only do consoles not do as much for people as smartphones but they require an investment in new games when you do upgrade.
As for the price, small is expensive, and the cost per hour of use is not a lot. Also plenty of phones are much cheaper. The high-end mirror of consoles is a gaming PC.
1. Platform exclusives.
2. It's cheaper than a computer.
Otherwise, it's a gimped computer that won't run most of the stuff you want and is difficult to use.
Putting out a new model every year will make your console significantly more expensive than getting a computer. If you raise the price to $1,000, it will make your console insanely more expensive than getting a computer.
In the phone business there are associated services too, but the hardware itself can be immensely profitable.
You can't wear your PS5 to flaunt how rich, current, stylish, trendy you are.
People are happy to shell out money for a status symbols. US practice of contract subsidizing the price of the phone helped it greatly, when even high schoolers could get it.
And I don't think the PS5 is that hard to get by now, though of course this will vary by region.
Most games are still cross-generation, but that is always the case. And they do look better on the PS5, though obviously they can't really take full advantage of the new capabilities, especially the much faster storage. But e.g. Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok still look very, very good on the PS5 and are not available on PC, even though they are cross-gen.
I just double checked online, which is why I mentioned that, without typing in my zip code. Best Buy: sold out, Amazon: available by invitation, eBay: selling at $700 vs $500 anywhere else. So like I said, either sold out or at a markup that is not currently worth it.
To me there is a huge jump in graphics quality from PS4 to PS5. It will take time for game devs to get games out that use better graphics, etc. and the PS6 is likely a half decade away or longer, these things never are early.
I used to game on PC but got sick of upgrades costing more than a console, having to tweak settings, deal with Windows, etc. when I just want to jump into a game.
I've read rumours, anyone here work in gaming and seen them as devkits?
If we allocate 1kW for a gaming system, GPUs will be able to scale up a lot more.
That's for theory, then the limiting factor could become the vram unable to feed fast enough the GPU, then we could imagine GPUs with "less vram", but something ultra fast like "only cache memory".
playstation 10?
