LogInThe question has been around for 20 years, apparently.
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With rumors of Xbox games appearing on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch floating around, many players are worried about the console's future. Will it disappear entirely one day? Will we all turn to cloud gaming soon?
Peter Moore, former SEGA of America president and corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division overseeing the Xbox 360, believes the questions are within the realm of possibility and have actually been asked for many years.
Speaking with IGN, he was asked if the era of consoles, specifically Xbox, would end soon, and it turns out Microsoft has been wondering about it for a while now.
"We were saying then, in 2007, is this the last console generation? Do televisions start to come with chips that can play games and you just need a controller? Is the PC, as it was then, a renaissance? And why do you need a bespoke piece of hardware that costs us, Microsoft, billions upon billions of dollars to install, and you hope to hell you get an attach rate of software and something out of your Xbox Live, your connected service, that would justify the losses, the hemorrhaging of cash that hardware costs you?"
Back then, in the mid-2000s, when production cycles were about 5 years, executives had to ask themselves if they needed another console after the then-current one, and while the answer was positive, the idea was still around "because you've got faster, cheaper broadband, more ubiquitous in just about everybody's home."
Those involved looked at music and movies: what once was available outside is now streamed from home, and games could meet the same fate. Moore says that while Sony is a hardware company, Microsoft is not, and it would like everything to move into the cloud.
"What I'm saying is the questions are being asked, as they have been for the last 20 years. Are we ready to gird our loins financially for battle and all of the cost of development, silicon development? What is it that PS6 can do that PS5 can’t that would make people jump from PS5, or same with Xbox, same with Switch, right? God forbid it's just incremental. And I think that the companies are also looking at that. What can we do to extend this life cycle?"
Finally, there's also AI and massive layoffs, which all have to be considered when discussing the future of consoles.
Turning back to Microsoft releasing Xbox exclusives on PS5 and Switch, Moore thinks the company is "dipping the toes in the water to see how all of this works." It is watching players' reactions to see how it can cater to younger generations' needs.
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