Sony CEO: Gaming Consoles Are Now a ‘Niche Market’ - Because selling 100 million consoles qualifies as niche.

[SiccDicc]

Sony CEO: Gaming Consoles Are Now a 'Niche Market' - Niche Gamer

This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover! Sony CEO Jim Ryan has talked up the importance of gaming consoles in today’s market. The Sony boss …

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http://archive.md/JbpFX

Sony CEO Jim Ryan has talked up the importance of gaming consoles in today’s market.
The Sony boss spoke during a recent investor relations Q&A (via ResetEra), where he suggest gaming consoles actually have a smaller role in the gaming industry as it stands today. Ryan was asked about the importance of Sony’s console hardware business, to which he said the console market is “not a major market.”
“If you look at the game industry as a whole, the console market is not a major market, rather it’s a niche market, if you will,” Ryan said. “But for core gamers, immersive experiences are something we would like to value.”
He added, “In this respect, for the time being, the console as something that brings about computing functionality to the users is very important, but on the other hand, technology will progress, and so as I said today, the Remote Play and PlayStation Now, the streaming services will be worked on in parallel, that is what we are doing at this moment.”
Sony is working on what is probably the PlayStation 5, their next home gaming console, however details are scant. It could use more cloud-based technologies, as Sony Japan recently announced a partnership with none other than Microsoft, for cloud gaming tech and artificial intelligence.

So it seems Sony is going to be focusing on streaming devices going forward with their partnership with Microsoft and with some lip service to quell any fears from the core gamer that consoles are a thing of the past. It seems consoles have been on a steady decline, but the PS4 is still #6 in most sold consoles ever, so I'm not sure exactly what the game is here. He doesn't mention what other chunks of the market are bigger in gaming, but mobile would be a given since that's out of a synergy of the average person owning a smart phone and the convenience thereof.

EDIT: @purpleboy offers a good viewpoint:

I sorta doubt consoles are out the door, especially with the footage we just recently got of PS5 backcompat gameplay...this just sounds like Soyny putting on airs for stockholders in order to get them to invest in their cloud products https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/1130645990627631105?s=20

EDIT2: @neural explains in greater detail what the fuck is going on:

What they're getting at is, game streaming can potentially disrupt the typical console business models, mainly because you bypass the costly purchase process ($400-500 is nothing to sneeze at for the majority of markets), so it's entirely conceivable to expect major gains in countries with good internet infrastructure, which coincidetally are the major gaming markets (US, Japan..etc). After that you only really need regular old consoles in places with mediocre to bad internet, those will eventually become a niche, hence the niche product comment.

Like forreal, don't count against games made exclusively for game streaming platforms to entice ppl to make a move there.

 

[Chaos Theorist]

So Sony are going to start developing mobile only games then?

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

So Sony are going to start developing mobile only games then?

Probably what he’s getting at.

Mobile games are shit and are just time wasters for when you’re standing in line somewhere or sitting on the toilet at work.

If this is where gaming is going, I’m out.

 

[UE 558]

I sorta doubt consoles are out the door, especially with the footage we just recently got of PS5 backcompat gameplay...this just sounds like Soyny putting on airs for stockholders in order to get them to invest in their cloud products https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/1130645990627631105?s=20

 

[Dopey Cunt]

I wouldn't even recognize mobile games as actual games.

Ugh, I really don't like where this is going. I love console gaming.

 

[Eryngium]

They've been on a downwards spiral since when they moved their headquarters to the U.S and got infected with political correctness shit that's so rampant in the western game industry. First with the virtue signaling pride event, then with all the censorship policies they have ramped up in the last 12 months, and now with this shit.

The only reason the PS4 has done so well since the move is because of the Xbox one's inferiority and all the hit titles they had in a row from the companies they are now being openly hostile towards.

 

[SiccDicc]

I sorta doubt consoles are out the door, especially with the footage we just recently got of PS5 backcompat gameplay...this just sounds like Soyny putting on airs for stockholders in order to get them to invest in their cloud products https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/1130645990627631105?s=20

I don't think consoles are out just yet, either, but his comments don't seem particularly promising. Sony's been doing a lot of weird stuff lately; SIE usually was immune to it, but even they're being affected these days.

Still, I'll add your viewpoint to the OP since it hadn't crossed my mind this was for investors, but then I wonder if they'll lose interest in investing in the main console.

 

[UE 558]

I don't think consoles are out just yet, either, but his comments don't seem particularly promising. Sony's been doing a lot of weird stuff lately; SIE usually was immune to it, but even they're being affected these days.

Still, I'll add your viewpoint to the OP since it hadn't crossed my mind this was for investors, but then I wonder if they'll lose interest in investing in the main console.

Shareholders are some of the biggest tech-illiterate idiots on the planet, I doubt it would be hard to convince them that cloud is the future with pretty words and charts that mean nothing

 

[Marissa Moira]

Sony CEO: Gaming Consoles Are Now a 'Niche Market' - Niche Gamer

This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover! Sony CEO Jim Ryan has talked up the importance of gaming consoles in today’s market. The Sony boss …

nichegamer.com

http://archive.md/JbpFX

So it seems Sony is going to be focusing on streaming devices going forward with their partnership with Microsoft and with some lip service to quell any fears from the core gamer that consoles are a thing of the past. It seems consoles have been on a steady decline, but the PS4 is still #6 in most sold consoles ever, so I'm not sure exactly what the game is here. He doesn't mention what other chunks of the market are bigger in gaming, but mobile would be a given since that's out of a synergy of the average person owning a smart phone and the convenience thereof.

EDIT: @purpleboy offers a good viewpoint:

Nintendo's CEO said the same damn thing.

Fuck Mobile games and fuck people with stupid bowl cuts.

The moment where everyone goes mobile only is the moment where we burn this shit to the ground.

 

[Ambidextype]

What is it with being Sony acting so obnoxious and arrogant everytime they are about to release a new console?

 

[Marissa Moira]

What is it with being Sony acting so obnoxious and arrogant everytime they are about to release a new console?

Shareholders and Investments

It's the Vince Mcmahon style of self promotion

 

[Done]

What they're getting at is, game streaming can potentially disrupt the typical console business models, mainly because you bypass the costly purchase process ($400-500 is nothing to sneeze at for the majority of markets), so it's entirely conceivable to expect major gains in countries with good internet infrastructure, which coincidetally are the major gaming markets (US, Japan..etc). After that you only really need regular old consoles in places with mediocre to bad internet, those will eventually become a niche, hence the niche product comment.

Like forreal, don't count against games made exclusively for game streaming platforms to entice ppl to make a move there.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Meanwhile a few weeks in the future...

"Hello this is Sony Playstation, here is the Playstation 5 now coming out at only 499.99 US dollars, please buy it."

 

[Marissa Moira]

Meanwhile a few weeks in the future...

"Hello this is Sony Playstation, here is the Playstation 5 now coming out at only 499.99 US dollars, please buy it."

price was already leaked at 400 bucks IIRC.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

they moved their headquarters to the U.S

why did they do that

 

[AF 802]

They've been on a downwards spiral since when they moved their headquarters to the U.S and got infected with political correctness shit that's so rampant in the western game industry. First with the virtue signaling pride event, then with all the censorship policies they have ramped up in the last 12 months, and now with this shit.

The only reason the PS4 has done so well since move is because of the Xbox one's inferiority and all the hit titles they had in a row from the companies they are now being openly hostile towards.

PlayStation: the only console endorsed by ResetEra!

It's also almost like the media and elites are absolutely lying when they say the population wants a near-police state level of political correctness in everything. Strange....

 

[UE 558]

price was already leaked at 400 bucks IIRC.

We still don’t know the finer details and that price range could easily change between now the possible mid to late-2020 date the console launches at.

 

[Marissa Moira]

why did they do that

After Japan fucked up the PS3, America saved it, marketed the PS3 better so it sold over 80 million, created the PS4, marketed the PS4, and is entirely responsible for the PS4 selling 100 million consoles.

Playstation as a brand was mostly built by the American division.

 

[UE 558]

After Japan fucked up the PS3, America saved it, marketed the PS3 better so it sold over 80 million, created the PS4, marketed the PS4, and is entirely responsible for the PS4 selling 100 million consoles.

Playstation as a brand was mostly built by the American division.

It’s the cultural change that’ll hurt modern SIE, it sucks because I still like Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Santa Monica as devs, they just have the misfortune of being run by a douchebag publisher.

 

[Marissa Moira]

It’s the cultural change that’ll hurt modern SIE, it sucks because I still like Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Santa Monica as devs, they just have the misfortune of being run by a douchebag publisher.

It really hasn't hurt them though.

You want a failure of a system look at the wii-u, look at the xbox one.

Microsoft fucked up so badly that people can't be bothered to make fun of them. People will still make fun of the holocaust or new zealand more than the xbox. The xbox is a failure of failures, it failed so hard that people forgot it exists.

Sony has a long way to go before the playstation reaches that level of irrelevency