EA founder: consoles to become 'hobby' market
Trip Hawkins says traditional console market will never go away, but it will become smaller; says gaming has now become mass-market.
Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins does not think traditional consoles are the way forward. Speaking to IGN, Hawkins claimed that the console market will never go away, but it will become smaller, and more focused on hardcore gamers who are eager for innovation.
"The console market is always going to be with us, because there’s always going to be a hardcore segment, a segment that likes innovation," Hawkins said. "But it’s going to become a smaller market, and it’s going to be more like a hobby market."
Hawkins likened the idea to that of airplanes, claiming most people simply want to be passengers, not actual pilots.
"You look at airplanes. Most of us just want to be a passenger, but there’s a hobby market for people who are really into aviation and want to take flying lessons and maybe someday have their own airplane," he said. "I think that’s what’s happening to the console market."
Though Hawkins thinks traditional consoles are becoming niche, he said gaming altogether has grown in popularity to the tune of reaching billions and billions of people.
"But there are billions of people now playing games," he said. "The gaming industry is finally becoming mass-market. It’s across two billion PCs and four billion mobile phones, and within a few years a billion tablets. In terms of total audience size, we’re getting into really big numbers.”
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He lives in Connecticut, works out of the company's New York City office, and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
I'm a pilot and love PC so I must look like a Jedi to Mr. Hawkins, or more likely a leper...
PC is not dead, consoles are not for simulations and are not "niche". this is poppycock i say!
Calling these social "gamers" gamers at all is quite funny, at best social gaming has replaced newspapers in the bathroom and on the bus. That's about it, I've yet to see anyone say anything like "I'm gonna take a break from Skyrim, I really need to get that third star on Angry Birds".
On the other hand, if this is publishers' current view on the situation, great, let's get more innovative on the console and leave the copy-paste jobs for the mobiles.
"Airplanes' LMAO
And this guy is supposed to be providing software for the future of gaming.
Shame everything he touches turns to dust for gamers and $$$ for him.
clearly what Trip Hawkins knows about consoles can be filed under '3DO'.
I honestly haven't seen any data that points to this, nor do I know anyone tossing aside their consoles for ipods, androids, or tablets. This is all part of a race to capture as much of the giant casual market as possible. Think about what he's saying. When you look at both the console and PC, it's easier to compare them since they play games quite similarly, both utilizing controllers, keyboards, or mice; this is a fundamental element of the way we play our games. There's also high definition televisions or monitors that we view our games on. So basically, he's saying that people are abandoning these and going for simplistic touch gaming on a tiny screen. It makes no sense. These companies are all trying to grab their share of the giant casual market and they're simply defending their positions(based on things they know they're doing within their company) in these interviews or wherever.
Hobbie of mine since the megadrive days, wake up saturday morning for some streets of rage and road rash :D
I think of it more as "Quick Fix" gamers vs. "Full-Blown Addict" gamers. QF's are completely fine with turning on the iPhone/tablet and getting a few minutes in with Angry Birds & the like. FBA's dabble in QF territory once in awhile, but when it comes down to it, would rather be immersed in their worlds all the time.
3 D O ! - enough said.
people who sit in the 'big chairs' will always see it from a dollars stand point. thats their job. to make money for their company. im talking about the big ones of course. actual love of games comes from people in the industry either further down the ladder or within smaller companies. consoles will always be there yes but now other types such as mobile gaming are big. gree bought fuzio for 250 mil and they make three mobile phone games. COD games are making a bazilion dollars for activision. if i was ceo of any of the other companies id try to follow the trend too because i have board member who want profit. example is resident evil has become all action and dead space is turning to action even though both these games were put on the map because they started off as survival horror. it suck but it s business.
It was essentially a hobby market to begin with. There's still a big difference now between "people who play videogames" and "people who played videogames when they were 4 years old"
I agree, he's actually the first person who's made some sense for once! But I don't think it will get too much smaller. The popularity of gaming in general will eventually leave those casual gamers wanting more than they can get on their smartphones. When that happens(Which already is happening) people will suddenly flock to consoles again to get something new. It's a circular cycle. Once this cycle of consoles gets older, a new form of gaming will come out outside of consoles and get popular for a short time. Once the new gen comes out yet again and those people see something new, they will again flock to it. Were just at the very beginning of a new cycle. Nintendo knows this, that's why they are making sure that Wii U is the first to the market. They know there's a big market of hungry consumers out there right now, and they want to cash in first.
This might be the first thing I have read from anyone associated with EA that does not make me want to break out the pitchforks and torches, probably because he left EA before they became a bunch of money grubbing a******s. I think most people are missing the point he was trying to make. He is saying that consoles will be more focused on hardcore gamers and not trying to appeal to everyone from your 2 year old sibling to your 80 year old grandma. I would like a little less attention paid to the CoD players to. I like shooters but for crying out loud like other genre's too. Plus smaller is not always a bad thing. If you want the anti-thesis of smaller then look at CoD. I think the industry could use a little less CoD mentality.
Darth_Ultima
Thank you.
I think consoles are gonna be a bit more niche from the 8th gen forward. Casual gamers have smart phones. Alotta 'core' gamers, like myself, have gone the PC route (GOG, Steam, Gamersgate).
And CoD and Madden buffs don't count as 'core' gamers. They only own a console for 2-3 franchises: CoD, Madden (FIFA in Europe), and maybe Halo. That very limited taste doesn't count as 'gamer' nor 'core gamer' in my book.
Playing video games is a hobby.
I think he is probably right. Gaming is no longer in our homes anymore and has completely become mainstream trash. I blame things like gamestop and video game award shows as the reason why gaming has gone in this direction.
Metallicwolf29 PC gaming is on the up and up thanks to the strong indy scene. The indy scene has revitalized a niche that has been getting overwhelmed by poor console ports.
I hope the major developers acknowledge what gamers really want, and start to focus on quality gaming, rather than fancy graphics.
thedemon44 Metallicwolf29 Good point. Super Crate Box and Dustforce are two that I play regularly, sometimes more than my AAA games.
Creative thinking and depth of gameplay are two reasons I like what Trip's saying, because if consoles can get to a place where we can begin to innovate, then you'll start to see games like Assassin's Creed and Uncharted possessing the depth and innovation of something like Minecraft or Overgrowth.
thedemon44 Metallicwolf29
I think alot of PC gaming's current rise comes from accessibility. Alotta indie games and old-'er' PC games not only have lower hardware requirements, but are available as dirt cheap downloads on GOG, Steam and Gamersgate. The low hardware requirements mean that you don't need a freakin' expensive ass rig to run them. I know that PC gaming 'elitist' types don't like hearing it, but, accessibility counts for ALOT.
And most off-the-shelf laptops at retail have dual core CPUs and moderately powered GPUs. So they'll run most of the games from 2006 and earlier on MAX settings without even upgrading them.
Again, 'elitist' types are gonna cringe at the thought because they love their high pixel counts. But every-day-joe doesn't give a s*** about that. Every-day-joe just wants games to look good and run on a device they already get PRACTICAL uses out of.
Oh, suck it Hawkins, you out of touch ball gargler. Makuch, when in Blue Hell will you stop reporting what EA stuffed shirts think!!?!!??!
Uesugi-dono FYI Trip Hawkins stepped down from his position at EA 20 years ago.
ztype85
Hence the stuffed shirt reference. Does that fact validate his non-gamer opinion?
Uesugi-dono ??
He hasn't been an EA stuffed shirt in 20 years? It's like calling Peter Moore a Sega stuffed shirt.
Besides a businessman who founds a company that generates more revenue than some small countries is hardly an out of touch ball gargler.
Basically, if you view gaming purely as a business in which to make money (as Trip Hawkins does and always has) then you want to be making games for smart phones & tablets and free to play PC because your market is huge. If you're actually interested in making good GAMES, you'll develop for PC and console... (sweeping statement with a few exceptions, obviously)
All developers are businesses and need to make money, but when tossers like Trip Hawkins open their mouths all that comes out is slimy money making shit that epitomises all that's wrong with the games industry these days. Please Trip, fuck off and concentrate on your smartphone/tablet market and leave gaming to gamers.
Didn't Trip Hawkins also tell us that the 3DO would be the way forward for consoles/gaming in general....?
He talk wisely .
Did he ever predict that Electronic Arts, a company marketed initially as a company that produced ARTWORK in game format, would become a huge corporate producer of sequal after sequal, with incremental improvements?
The amount of people playing "hardcore" consoles is not going to shrink, just the amount of swag preteens playing primitive games on iPlay is gonna raise.
I know PC gaming will never die, but tablets and phones? Give me a break. I know I would prefer to game on a screen way less than a quarter size(tablet) and the 5 inches I get with a phone, than I would on a sweet 55" or larger T.V. The console market is huge and thriving as we speak. So no, they will be going strong for long.
Considering Xbox and PS3s are just EXTREMELY overpriced PCs hes probably right. With the 10 bucks I save on every game at base, plus steam sales I can spend the same amount of cash in a generation on a PC as a console. Not to mention PCs are just so much better in every aspect except the 'plug in and go' and 1st part aspects. Other than that PC is dominate over the console in every other way.
vault-boy
Your opinion is your opinion and nothing more.
vault-boy good for you
vault-boy Society is turning into a 'plug in and go', if not there already. Think of all the devices we have today and how simple they've become to use. Apple products (iPhone, iPad), tablet PC's, gaming consoles, etc.
While computers have come a long with in usability (if you remember in the 80's and 90's when you had to manually edit config.sys and autoexec.bat files just to get games to work, or to manually set the IRQ's for your keyboard, mouse, etc). Although even with the advances, PC's are still by far the more complicated device to use when compared to gaming consoles.
I suppose if you looked at the long-term investment, PC's might seem overpriced, but 'extremely'? Not so much. Console's usually have a lifespan of about 7 to 10 years. During that time, most PC gamers are guaranteed to purchase 2 computers or spend hundreds upgrading their original computer. I don't think the overall cost is really that different. Although with a console, naturally, you have much simpler, easier device to use that still plays all of the modern games. Not only is it easier to use, it's easier to be social on a console, because the voice communication is already built in to every game and the consoles themselves. (speaking mainly about Sony and Microsoft consoles).
It's been a hobby of mine since the Sega Master System, so what's the issue? Aren't hobbies good to have? Some of the people, whom are supposed to be the more experienced ones in the industry, say the craziest things!
godzillavskong
you are correct that gaming was a hobby at the time, but in the last 15 years or so , gaming became much more popular (due to the PS1/2 mainly) its not the hobbyist thing it was in the 80s or early 90s.
if youre a developer (especially one like, say, Activision or EA, who rely on big mainstream yearly franchises), the thought of the gaming market getting smaller to the way it was before is scary (they are after all , businesses , money matters).
Since when has gaming not been a hobby? What he is really trying to say is, there are more casual gamers then there are hardcore gamers. Well, duh. My 5 year old niece plays angry birds, so what.
I always thought of PC's as the 'hobby market', because you had to tweak things in order to get the games to play.
Consoles were, and still are, 'plug and play', with much less hassle.
Landsharkk best comment
For people bashing Trip Hawkins because of his former association with EA, he hasn't been with EA since 1991! I'm old enough to remember the EA that existed under Hawkins. They were one of the first big forces in indie game publishing. In an age where Atari programmers had to hide their names inside their games, EA was releasing indie-developed games in what looked like record albums with the developers' photos shown prominently on the inside.
So quit blaming the modern EA on Hawkins, he had nothing to do with that.
While what he's saying isn't really 'news', I do agree with some of it.
Consoles are becoming increasingly niche. Casual gamers are moving on to smart phones. PC gaming has become more accessible, thanks to Steam, GOG, Amazon Game Downloads, Gamersgate... So ponying up $300 for a propietary device that ONLY runs games, plus $60 per game, is looking alot less practical.
Then there is the issue of absent backward compatibility; something PC gamers rarely have to tolerate, but console gamers have been slammed with constantly. I know 7th gen (360/PS3) kids aren't gonna like reading that remark. But, as someone who's been gaming since the 3rd (8bit NES) gen*, it's pretty hard to overlook.
*I'm 36 and have been gaming since I was 14. I used to be a console gamer. Today, I'm almost exclusively a PC gamer. GOG, Steam and Gamersgate are practically a way of life for me anymore.
@nate1222 I tend to agree, I think the console market will possibly shrink, but will remain sizable. The most casual will be satisfied with phones and tablets, and PC gamers will still be PC gamers, but there's a good number of, let's say, "firmcore" gamers who want something fairly substantial, like detailed sports games, racing games and shooters. There's still a pretty high barrier of entry to PC gaming for the non-nerd who doesn't know components and drivers, and want to just hook the box to the tv and go.
maxwell97 nate1222 Agree. Plug & Play is the beauty of consoles. If only they could be more like PC in the scope of the games, more simulators ( real ones, not like Apache air assault crap ) more quality RPGs and RTS, more freedom to play how you want and less focus on cheap thrills and cinematic CoD imitations.
jagcivtec maxwell97 nate1222
Just something to point out here, there is no reason a company like Valve couldn't do a 'console' they recently produced TV Mode for Steam (Designed for use with a controller etc.)
They just need to design a 'scoring system' for PC's and bam, you've got a plug n play HTPC, plug it into the TV, connect your wireless controller, good to go.
When new games come out 'Valve' give it a rating, if your "PC Console rating" or whatever they call it is greater than the games rating you can run it.
Christ, they could even license it and allow PC Vendor's to use it.
"Steam Rated for games up to level 10"
Crysis 2: requires a PC SteamRated 7 or Higher (Max detail requires 11)
etc.
jagcivtec
Plug and play is overrated as far as consoles are concerned, in my opinion. PCs today are as plug and play as they've ever been, and Steam makes it simple to buy a game, download it, and start playing it. Much easier than going to a store and buying a home console game, bringing it home, and starting it up only to find that you need to download half an hour's worth of content and install it before you can play the game.
Updates on consoles suck, and that's the biggest improvement I'm looking for on the next gen. If they can't manage to seamlessly integrate them into the experience, then it will be a huge misstep.
rarson jagcivtec
i tend to buy things on pc, so that's where i'm coming from with this reply. with that said, whenever i buy a new game on pc, i always have to wonder what issue am i going to have and how long will i have to work to fix it. sure, console has issues sometimes too, but it's much more rare. for example, borderlands 2 looks awesome on my pc, but my friend and i really had to make an effort to get the coop multiplayer working correctly. i can name a few other pc games that gave me problems just over the past year: rage, assassin's creed, kingdoms of amalur. remarkably and thankfully, my experience with skyrim was relatively painless. i've had other issues with MMO's that don't bear mentioning since consoles don't support those products, for good or for bad.
i'm not sure what you're referring to with the "half an hour's worth of content" to download on console games. i can't think of a single game i bought on my 360 that had a lengthy install update. besides, isn't it sort of silly to compare install patches that are at most a few hundred MB to a 17 GB install download on steam?
look, i'm definitely not putting down the pc, and on principle i agree with what you are saying about improved user-friendliness. additionally, there's no question that it's a superior way to play games particularly toward the end of the console lifespans where we are now. but just recognize that it's not everyone's cup of tea to port forward, fix corrupt installs, fool with antivirus software, update drivers, or pray to the gods of gaming that a patch or hotfix will come out addressing your issues.
rarson Well, I find console updating much simpler than PC, and even with required downloading to hard drive it's still simpler than PC. I really don't know how user friendly gaming PCs are now because I left that some years back, but if it's true they're close to plug and play and have less issues I might just come back, because the console market is just unbearable right now.
Although I had some great time with PC gaming and some of my favorite games are PC exclusives I just couldn't handle the constant tweaking, file operations, upgrading etc, so I went with consoles. Looking forward to going back to PC though, but only if they can make it simpler to play.
emptyplatitudes rarson Some games do require some heavy downloading to hard disk, specially on PS3, try MGS4, but I totally agree with you on the complexity and variety of problems that a PC game can hit you with. It scares many gamers away into the console market. Still PC gaming is superior to consoles, but the simplicity on consoles has kept me away from PC, but i'm changing my mind thanks to the latest trends.
emptyplatitudes rarson jagcivtec I agree but a game is faster fixed on PC than on any other system because of smart dudes that know how to fix things. I did not have any issues with Borderlands 2 but some did have it , maybe because I am from Europe and Steam and Gearbox fixed some issues. Most of the problems with PC games are users that don't know how their PC works, if you don't love the pc you can't use it at it's full capacity and you will not know how to fix problems that may occur. So as a conclusion some issues are user related because they don't understand the need to update their soft or the limitation of their hardware. If you don't have some knowledge of PC's don't play on that system buy a console or start learning how to use it, it isn't hard (This is for the general population which may or may not read my comment). It is much more easy to use a console even if it doesn't have Pc's benefits. Know your PC and you will be ok.
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jollybest1 rarson jagcivtec pc games always have compatibility issues on release. i'm sure the companies that release these games would love to characterize them as "user-related" but in my experience that's almost never the case. sometimes the manufacturer of your graphics card doesn't have the drivers correct. sometimes it's a conflict with a common, normal piece of software the developer didn't think about. it has nothing to do with whether you love/know your pc, it has to do with the myriad legitimate hardware and software configurations on pc - the developers just can't plan for all the problems that will happen.
emptyplatitudes That pretty much describes my case, so I just didn't have the time to handle all the related troubles, and so I went with consoles, but man are they pushing it lately.
My PC is really outdated so I would definitely buy a new one before trying to upgrade this one, and hope for some elevated sense of user friendliness in newer rigs.
jollybest1 There is some truth to that, but I think most problems are not user related though.
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