No need for a new PlayStation in the market just yet – Part 1

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   November 11th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

The life-cycle of a console is considered to be crucial to its success, a belief that is shared by majority of the analysts in the gaming industry.

The uproar over the extended life of Sony’s and Microsoft’s current-generation consoles also acts as an indication of the challenging times that await the two gaming giants because the gamers are not happy with the way things are progressing.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been there for quite now and will in fact be celebrating its sixth anniversary this November. This, according to the general opinion, is an unacceptable age for a console since the technology has started to appear a bit outdated.

Many consumers associate technology with experience and after finding themselves stuck at the same level since 2006, they are beginning to get a bit annoyed.

This once again is a general opinion and there are many consumers who are still fascinated by what PlayStation 3 has offered and yet to offer.

Sony and a number of publishers support these views, saying that the current-generation console is far from its demise since the industry is yet to fully explore its graphical capabilities.

The claim appears pretty valid since the fresh titles arriving in the market are clearly showing improved textures and exhibiting faster graphic rendering. The likes of Assassin’s Creed, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, God of War III and the Uncharted franchise are perfect examples of just what the developers can produce for the game. Some of the big games in the pipeline such as the Tomb Raider reboot further weaken the stance of critics who believe that PlayStation 3 cannot do any more than it has already done.

It is true that the advent of smartphones and tablets are making the console makers sweat. The emergence of the casual gaming market, as well as the gradual shift of some console enthusiasts to the alternative platform is something that is proving to be worrisome for Sony, especially with the analysts constantly asserting that the damage is being done by the extended life-cycle of the current-generation console.

However, Sony is convinced that they are losing gamers to mobiles and tablets not because of failing to bring out a new hardware, but because of some other reason. This reason can be either the huge variety of games that can be found on the likes of iOS and Android, or the low price of these games.

This difference in the variety and price of the games for consoles and smartphones is primarily associated with the amount of resources used in the development of games for the two different platforms. Console games require more much money and time to be built, while games for iOS and Android are relatively less costly.

Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Wishfree.com.