Why Phil Harrison is dead wrong about the gaming industry
Phil Harrison, you guys remember him right? He is the former British corporate executive and a representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment and SCEE. In a recent interview Phil Harrison said that Apple will dominate gaming industry in the future. With all do respect Mr. Harrison, playeressence.com thinks your dead wrong and here are 3 reasons why.
3. Apple doesn’t understand gamers
- Apple is in the business of making overpriced hardware with minimal effort. (Like Nintendo on steroids) With there $600 Ipads, $230 dollar Ipod touch’s, and $1000 plus MacBooks. Apple will really have to restructure their business model if they want to own the gaming future. And, before you guys mention the Apple TV that’s coming soon I already know about that, but it’s unproven if gamers will gravitate towards that. The casuals might be in the bag but the hardcore are undecided.
2. Where are your studios?
- To own the gaming industry you need games that get casuals and hardcore gamers excited. So far I have not seen anything down the horizon that really makes me want to get on the app store and forget about my PS3, 360, or Wii. While they do have a gem here and there like Infinity blade there are tons of similar games out on consoles and PC that gamers will spend their hard earned money on like Skyrim and Zelda. Apple just doesn’t have the teams to develop enough software to make everybody happy. Angry Birds isn’t cutting it. (Not developed by Apple just their most popular game)
1. First Party IP
- Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Pokemon, Uncharted, Killzone, Mag, Resistance, Infamous, Twisted Metal, Little Big Planet, Halo, Forza, Dance Central, Gears ECT. The games that gamers love. Apple will never have them. And unless they form a bunch of studios quickly or in the near future and invest a ton of money Apple will never own the industry with their $1.00 apps and overpriced Ipads.
What do you guys think? Put them in the comments below.
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I totally agree…
Although i could see a point in 'connecting' your entire home (TV, macbook, Console etc…), but that's not a point that will buy 'hardcore-gamers' more the 'real' Apple-enthusiast ^^
I think i'll stick with my PS3, 360 and wii
Some good points, but overpriced ipads? Perhaps you need reevaluate the tablet market bud
I wasn't talking about all the tablets. I was just talking about Apple's own Ipads that are $499
Why Phil Harrison is wrong about the gaming industry: Because I hate Apple and want him to be.
Not really a good enough reason. Also, "where are your studios?" Apple has $70 billion in spare cash. Apple's studios are there whenever it may want them.
"Overpriced iPads"? "in the business of making overpriced hardware with minimal effort"? Something tells me you know very little about Apple, which is sort of a requirement for writing an article about them, surely?
You can get tablets that are just as good as any Ipad for way less than the $499 they charge. They make insane profits on each of their products they sell.
You seem to be forgetting how Microsoft started… They did not have any first party Ip´s either but they went and bought them… Example Halo existed before it became an Xbox exclusive.
They dont have to form a bunch of studios…Microsoft never did that they just went and bought them.
I don't see it as either/or kinda thing. If people purchase stuff from APPL and the "big 3" there's clearly room for all of them in the market. Ever since Sega got out of the hardware business I've been wanting more competition. It tends to benefit everyone, not just the consumer. Gamers like to complain about prices, and yes for what is just a hobby to many, it may be a rather expensive one. However, games in general provide a huge value per unit cash spent. By entertainment time per dollar spent they are multiples and orders of magnitude larger than movies, watching sporting events, and so on. The problem there is not that games do not provide enough entertainment per unit money, it's that they often provide too much, and this becomes a problem. Gamers set expectations for hours of gameplay and thus they get filler that no one really likes.
You don't need to own studios to offer a great gaming platform. Do the people behind OnLive have their own studios? Steam has Valve but even without Valve games it's still a great place to buy games off. What I am saying is the future is not consoles like the Wii or Playstation or XBOX, it is a cloud where we can access games off of and play them on various devices and Apple has a far better ecosystem than Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Look at the direction Sony is taking with Vita. They want you to have cross platform play but they also want you to buy two copies of the game to do it!
I want my games to be like my music. Easily accessible that don't require multiple purchases.
Microsoft could do better than OnLive with the possibility of playing xbox games on windows pcs and phones add the fact the they have income from everywhere, windows, windows operating system, microsoft word. so does Sony with tvs, laptops and blu-ray
And is a fourth point is that apple only cares about apple . You don’t think that Jobs is biting his lips every time that somebody use Microsoft office in the Mac.