Why There Are No Game Console App Stores (opens in new tab)

all the game consoles have app stores. seriously.

As an ex-EA employee, I think I know the real reasons. They're Target, Walmart and Carrefour. The packaged game industry is still beholden to retailers.

Why does Xbox Live Indies (previously called Community Games) not count? Microsoft has had that in for a few years on the 360. There are quite a few really good non-minecraft clones on that service.

As for Sony, what about the fact that they have a similiar thing on PS Vita with the Playstation Mobile Developer program.

Over time Nintendo will probably sell all their classics on other platforms app stores, eventually just that like how sega have transformed into content only.

Doesn't Playstation Mobile count? It's an SDK and accompanying store for publishing to the Vita and Playstation branded Android devices. I can absolutely see them extending this to the PS4.

Nintendo is now officially selling AAA titles through the online store for DSi/3DS.

"But when you've got an App Stores, you've got a race to the bottom."

Are game developers on i* competing on price in the same way? Or is the pricing model different? I would claim that the console games' revenues are front-loaded while i* games are back-loaded (many games include DLC for free, whereas apple games end up monetizing through lots of DLC)

I think it's more of a control and quality issue. Steam also has lots of AAA titles and no problem with race to the bottom pricing. Maybe it indeed is a hardware profit issue, but then valve would have similar problems. I honestly don't understand why they don't go full force on app stores, it would change the game and imo is their only chance to survive vs Valve and Apple.

The game price range on PS4 will be $0.99 to $60.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122311-Sony-CEO-Gi...

If you're curious about the state of console development, there's an excellent Reddit comment/thread @payne92 just shared with me:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18irx0/the_minecraft_...

The long and short of it is a) developing a non-Xbox Indie game is incredibly expensive and prohibitive b) (for now) state of Xbox Indie game network and framework is crippled c) Steam is a much better, although still imperfect, beast to deal with.

I really hope that dev kits for the next gen consoles don't continue to be so expensive. If I own the console, I should be able to develop on it.

I don't think Sony and Microsoft are unaware that small indie developed games have been flooding the App Store. That being said, Apple has sold 410 million iOS devices and has paid developers $5.5B (2012 numbers).

Apple makes an absurd amount of money from hardware, while Microsoft and Sony sell their consoles at losses and need to make money back from software.

Playstation Mobile http://www.playstation.com/psm/index_e.html

No devkit, just download the SDK and run on your PC. It's free to try and costs $100 year to deploy to devices and actually self publish your game.

This is an interesting question. Another is when will TV's get an Android game API "built in" like they have the "Netflix" and "Hulu" apps built in now. A game framework, an online store of games, an in game purchase mechanism, and one casino game. Blam the new world arrives.

With the changed in PSN+ over the last two years and the inclusion of all the free games I'm sure in the next generation I'll just go for a PS4 and PSN+ yearly subscriptions and that will cover all my gaming needs.

These "next-gen" consoles are boring. And they seem to not only want to keep the same old high prices, but also eliminate options like playing used games (next xbox). For true next-gen gaming I'll be waiting for Steambox for its affordable games and I assume it will have great support for Oculus Rift, too, from day one.