Consoles are Dead, Claims Firefall Developers

[News Portal]

The CEO of Red 5 Studios, currently neck-deep in development of Firefall, has slammed the console model in a recent interview. "It takes billions of dollars of investment to create a console and then you have to milk it for five to seven years in order to get your money back," said Mark Kern, who was also a former designer on World of Warcraft. "I think the model is broken. You keep making these bigger and bigger bets and what that forces you to do is play it safer and safer. And if you play it safer and safer with your gameplay, people will get tired of the **** you're serving (...) Something has to change. Consoles, I believe, are dead." Read the full interview at Eurogamer.

Source: Eurogamer

Read full article by GON News

[DoHo_]

Meh, I disagree (though I wish he was right). If consoles were dead there wouldn't be people saying "this gen can go for another 2 years, we don't need new consoles". You'd see developers pushing for bigger and better games with shinier graphics and looking at higher-end PCs as benchmarks. We're not seeing that. We're seeing poorly ported, low-mid range games being toted as new and shiny on consoles still.

[jambo]

Haha, yeah right. Yes it costs a lot, but the companys have the money and the consumers keep buying them in droves. This gen alone the 3 big players have sold over 220 million consoles combined.

Plus new console gens are actually good for PC gaming, as devs start to really push hardware again. The end of a console life cycle is horrible for PC gaming, as we get a lot of ports and mulitplats that are being developed for 7 year old hardware.

[F6310]

I also disagree. Consoles are great because they're cheap to the consumer and the long lifespan of the console also is a factor in it's success.

I prefer PC gaming personally, but I can see consoles being around for a long, long time.

[Spooler]

I also disagree. Consoles are great because they're cheap to the consumer and the long lifespan of the console also is a factor in it's success.

I prefer PC gaming personally, but I can see consoles being around for a long, long time.

In the long run they really are not "cheap to the consumer"
They are vastly more expensive especially in terms of content than the PC.

[cyclobs]

i like this man.

[Lord_Apophis]

I also disagree. Consoles are great because they're cheap to the consumer and the long lifespan of the console also is a factor in it's success.

I prefer PC gaming personally, but I can see consoles being around for a long, long time.

In the long run they really are not "cheap to the consumer"
They are vastly more expensive especially in terms of content than the PC.

+1

I spent $400 on my Xbox 360 years ago, I have about 90 games in total, most of which are brand new copies which retailed for $80+
So that's, $7200 on just games.
Then I bought 3 additional controllers, Xbox live for several years...

So chances are I've spent around $8,150 on my Xbox 360, Game collection, Accessories. Not including some old Xbox 1 games I got, DLC and Kinect too.

I've spent about $4,500 on my PC with Triple Screen eyefinity, multiple high-end cards, water cooling and such.
And the several hundred games I have on steam probably would amount to about $1500 as I bought them usually on sales with the exception of a few like Skyrim.

So really, PC gaming is allot cheaper, it could be allot cheaper than the price I listed if you only game at 1080P with a single GPU.
Heck if you have a decently clocked Quad-Core processor, just make sure you have 4gb of ram at a minimum and a decent GPU and you should run most games at high settings.
You get allot more flexibility in the platform, more games (Several decades worth in-fact), cheaper games, better graphics, sound and control.

Other than ease-of-use that a console offers... It really does offer nothing else other than some exclusive games.

[Nekosan]

He's an idiot, $5 says he talks this rubbish and then they deliver a dumbed down Firefall compared to what they originally showed.

[Spooler]

I've spent about $4,500 on my PC with Triple Screen eyefinity, multiple high-end cards, water cooling and such.

$4500 is absurd even for a 3 display setup my system was little over $1500 admittedly I only use 2 displays but 3 will only set you back about 600-800 dependent on size brand etc.

water cooling is also needless but meh that's not that expensive unless you have several cards running water-cooling as-well which is just silly.

But again it is absurd you don't need 3 displays and if you ad in the cost of displays add the cost of your TV into the cost of your console the same can be said here and with HDMI honestly why not use a big **** tv ? (I am aware reasons for 3 screen exist but that is beside the point)

My mother in-law and her partner game on systems that are "high-end" both duel displays both have only cost about 5-800 his has had more spent on it than hers and both run everything in 1920x1080 that they have ever wanted to play fine.

but What I was referring to is not system cost but how much you get out of your system with a $0 charge (not including applicable download rates)

Even here on GON HOURS and HOURS of content is available free to play I myself spent over 100 hours+ on GoN's UrT servers and never paid a dime, consoles cannot offer the same services nor will they likely ever offer the same services.

Which I believe is what this article refers to not "consoles are dead" but the content delivery system for consoles is vastly outdated and is even now struggling to deliver a comparable amount of services for a similar price.

Tl;Dr
Consoles aren't dead their content delivery system is archaic.


Off-Topic,
I miss the pretty pictures of the older GoN articles

[caitsith01]

I miss the pretty pictures of the older GoN articles

Me too!

[GoToadGo]

I also disagree. Consoles are great because they're cheap to the consumer and the long lifespan of the console also is a factor in it's success.

I prefer PC gaming personally, but I can see consoles being around for a long, long time.

In the long run they really are not "cheap to the consumer"
They are vastly more expensive especially in terms of content than the PC.

+1

I spent $400 on my Xbox 360 years ago, I have about 90 games in total, most of which are brand new copies which retailed for $80+
So that's, $7200 on just games.
Then I bought 3 additional controllers, Xbox live for several years...

So chances are I've spent around $8,150 on my Xbox 360, Game collection, Accessories. Not including some old Xbox 1 games I got, DLC and Kinect too.

I've spent about $4,500 on my PC with Triple Screen eyefinity, multiple high-end cards, water cooling and such.
And the several hundred games I have on steam probably would amount to about $1500 as I bought them usually on sales with the exception of a few like Skyrim.

So really, PC gaming is allot cheaper, it could be allot cheaper than the price I listed if you only game at 1080P with a single GPU.
Heck if you have a decently clocked Quad-Core processor, just make sure you have 4gb of ram at a minimum and a decent GPU and you should run most games at high settings.
You get allot more flexibility in the platform, more games (Several decades worth in-fact), cheaper games, better graphics, sound and control.

Other than ease-of-use that a console offers... It really does offer nothing else other than some exclusive games.

You fail to see the fact that you had a MUCH larger initial investment for your PC. People like consoles as they can get one really cheap and then acquire what they need over time. They can also just plug it in and go, same with the games. It's made for the masses, and it's perfect for those who just don't grasp PC gaming.

I love both and will always try and have a good PC and some consoles around. As fun as playing over the net is on PC, nothing beats playing with 3 friends on the same lounge and trash talking each other(the latest Mortal Kombat is AWESOME for this). Only a console can do that effectively.

[M a x]

We can only hope....consoles = death

[Spooler]

@ Toad

Now maybe at the start of a console generation, not really tho $500 bucks and I can get you gaming on a PC.

If you don't care about hi res displays I can do it for even less if you are willing to have a small display 17" I can do it for even less again.

Is it a Tri GPU rig with an overclocked 8 core bulldozer processor running 6 displays in 3d ? Nope but I guarantee it will run any current gen game in reasonable quality with 30-40 frame rates.

There is an implied expense in PC gaming which is simply false everyone has a pc of some sort in the First world they are almost bare essentials.

Also really ? we hook my desktop up frequently and have games of dungeon defenders with each other sitting on the lounge all the time ? Maybe you just don't know how to do it effectively with a pc

[kargar]

that may be for the moment but when the next gen come out and you cant use any old games on them pc will be cheeper as you can use any game you own.

[Aphyosis]

water cooling is also needless but meh that's not that expensive unless you have several cards running water-cooling as-well which is just silly.

But again it is absurd you don't need 3 displays and if you ad in the cost of displays add the cost of your TV into the cost of your console the same can be said here and with HDMI honestly why not use a big **** tv ? (I am aware reasons for 3 screen exist but that is beside the point)

At a guess, I'm going to say you've missed the point as to why he built that system. You don't need any of that. I assume you also hold similar views on the people who inject methanol into their cars or people who spend huge amounts on extreme sound systems?

It's called an Enthusiast hobby. People do it because they ENJOY it, regardless of how pointless it is.

On topic; Unfortunately, i doubt our dev friend is correct. Especially once the new generation come out. They're just too convenient for most people.