Ask HN: Why aren’t larger companies making PC based consoles?
Part of what allows Microsoft and Sony to release affordable consoles with PC-like performance are developer port optimizations and lower hardware prices directly from OEMs.
Valve attempted the Steam Box years ago, it failed, but with Steamdeck, they proved they could establish their own hardware platform.
Is there a future for smaller companies in the console market with AMD apu based devices? Or does none of this matter because of cloud gaming.
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Console makers make good profits through expensive games and subscription sales, but it is a risky business. That is, selling the console at a loss is certain, any revenue you get after that is speculative.
Looked at another way, the smartphone market is a console market: limited use digital network terminals have metastasized to the point that "general purpose" computers with utility of their own, separate from the network, are a rare thing to find.
I was a fan of the Playstation Vita which had some remarkable titles such as
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killzone:_Mercenary https://neptunia.fandom.com/wiki/Hyperdimension_Neptunia_Re;...
but Playstation decided not to keep competing with phones and they didn't create another generation. Nintendo's switch follows in the Vita's footsteps however, and was a big hit. Many of the game publishers that made games for the Vita went right to the Switch.
Everyone knows Nintendo has the IP and that Disney heritage.
Personally speaking, I think the console market is going in the wrong direction with more complexity and customizability. Consoles should be simple (not with a bunch of different models and variants) and just work for quick entertainment.
PCs are where you go when you accept that there will be some complexity and complications in figuring out how to run your game.
Then there's the whole challenge involved in actually marketing the thing. Why would customers buy this? How much would it cost to advertise a brand new system in an era where the major console manufacturers are spelling millions (probably billions) on advertising and have about a hundred times more name recognition than you probably will?
As for cloud gaming... that's proven to be quite the technical challenge in of itself, and even companies on the level of Microsoft and Google are struggling to get it to work flawlessly right now (or to sell the public on the idea in general).
Indie consoles like Ouya that’ve tried to capitalize on platform branding have failed pretty roughly in the past. It always seems ironic because anyone savvy enough to know of one likely also knows they have mediocre setups involving existing consumer technologies.
I would like to see an Indie NES approach. Something actually using 8/16 bit hardware. Or at the very least an exclusive console that has really well made games that people are dying to play.
Part of me also thinks people would find that exclusivity annoying. And instead of buying the inevitably high priced artisanal console, they’ll emulate the games effortlessly, as they should.