Techstravaganza: New consoles and VR money
Weekly roundup: PlayStation Neo, Xbox Scorpio and publisher VR skepticism
What better way to distract ourselves from the madness of Brexit and Trump (surely signs of a political apocalypse) than with industry insider thoughts on new hardware, namely the Xbox Scorpio and PlayStation Neo.
"I perceive it as upgrades to the hardware that will actually extend the cycle. I actually see it more as an incredibly positive evolution of the business strategy for players and for our industry and definitely for EA," EA global publishing chief Laura Miele told GamesIndustry.biz
"I perceive it as upgrades to the hardware that will actually extend the cycle"
EA global publishing chief Laura Miele
Ubisoft's head of EMEA Alain Corre agreed, also telling us:
"Now we can take the best of the next console but still have super good quality for the current console, without breaking the community up. We are quite big fans of this approach."
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick would be happy to see console manufacture follow the iteration cycle seen in the mobile phone market, but he's not sure we're there just yet.
"We will get to the point where the hardware becomes a backdrop. And sure, constantly more powerful hardware gives us an opportunity but it would be great to get to a place where we don't have a sine curve anymore, and I do see the sine curve flattening but I'm not sure I agree it's going away yet..."
The cynic might say that of course representatives of the biggest publishers, people who rely on those console manufacturers like I rely on Postmates for noodle deliveries, might be inclined to be positive whatever Sony and Microsoft decide to do. The cynic would be right. Console with a toaster built in? Wow, amazing! Controllers for your feet? Boom, love it. A power button made of blue cheese? YAS YAS YAS.
In VR news the hype train kept on rolling as HTC Vive announced a $10 billion venture capital group. 27 firms have joined with HTC Vive in the VR Venture Capital Alliance.
"We believe that VR is a transformative technology that will revolutionize entire industries, one that will leave a lasting impact for many future generations to come. In order to achieve that dream, we are working tirelessly to ensure that the VR startups today get the resources they need, so that they can grow into the industry titans of tomorrow."
At this point it's almost awkward when someone doesn't agree with the VR excitement, like you're declaring you're anti-puppy or something. But I guess some people just want to kick a baby dachshund in the face....
The funding news came as Versus Evil general manager Steve Escalante questioned the value of VR for publishers at the BIG Business Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
"From a publishing point of view, VR is just too risky"
Versus Evil general manager Steve Escalante
"I know that it could be big, and there's a lot of development dollars. From a development perspective I'd invite you to chase those dollars, because there are a lot of them out there. But from a publishing point of view, VR is just too risky. We have to go after the platforms that have an audience, so we know what they look like."
It's confusing advice from the outside, it could be read as publishers pushing developers to make the mistakes and build the audience alone and the publishers are happy to step in at a later date and scoop up the money from those who've been successful. Profitable? Probably. Noble? Nope. Me, I'm happy that for the cash for the VR content I'm buying (and I am, that $800 headset isn't just a paperweight in my home) is going directly to the innovators and the brave.
Also on GamesIndustry.biz this week:
EA's Chief Competition Officer Peter Moore talked about making stars of its players
The Square Enix CEO on Final Fantasy, technology and straddling Japan and US markets
PlayStation Plus now has 20.8m paying subscribers
Other news in brief:
Ford decided to steal some artwork from Firewatch
Newzoo partnered with Pushwoosh
NFL star Jim Brown settled with EA