Armchair

I recently read the following three posts from a video game blog I check infrequently called Black Box.

• This Console Generation Has Great Games, But No Game Changers
• Where Would A Post-Exclusives Console Market Lead Us?
• Where Would a Generationless Console Market Lead Us?

These three touch on a trend in games that I find interesting, which is the trend toward “uniformity and homogenization regardless of hardware.” I wrote a little about it with regard to Policenauts last summer.

I often see people talking about homogenization in game design, especially at the highest level of production (“AAA”), and I think that this concept of uniformity in hardware, or in other words devices becoming more and more indistinct from one another, is related. The limitations and specifications of a game’s target platform(s) have informed trends in game design to a great degree historically, and I have to wonder how the ongoing shift to a landscape with fewer distinctions between devices will affect that.

Probably for the worse — limitation breeds creativity. Then again, what do I know? The arcade monetization model is the only videogame business model in history that has ever actively financially awarded compelling game design, and that ship has long sailed. So if “probably for the worse” ends up being correct, it’ll only be an amplification of existing design-business relationship issues.

Of course there are also obvious benefits towards a more uniform landscape, for both consumers and producers alike. A great one is peripheral compatibility: controllers have become standardized and can be used across major modern platforms to control most modern games, and even console games often support kbm these days for those who prefer it. Another one that only the truly oldschool (even before my time) will likely appreciate: cross-platform parity. In the old days, how a game looked, ran, and even played depended heavily on the hardware. Games released across different devices were usually not at parity as they (basically) are today. Often different “versions” of a game weren’t even really the same game at all, and had to be built from scratch to accommodate a landscape of decentralized hardware. These days, that’s not the case, and you (usually) don’t have to worry about playing an inferior game because of the hardware you own. Those are just a few examples of benefits (not without downsides); the list goes on.

Regardless, the Japanese mentality of building unique hardware and of creating games specifically designed for that hardware (like Nintendo DS and its games for example), has lost. It will likely not reappear in any major capacity. Though there is obviously a market for boutique devices that adopt this approach, like Playdate.

“Console generation”: an obsolete concept

One other thing: “console generations” don’t exist anymore. The concept will continue to become more and more obsolete, probably. So while they may be amusing, jokes/memes/whatever like “PS5 has no [exclusive] games” and the infamous “One Game” are fundamentally misguided in their thinking.

Rather I think that dedicated game machines — traditional consoles and the new style of Steam Deck-esque devices — will adopt a smart device release model. Instead of a big upgrade every half decade, we’ll see incremental upgrades released more frequently and less ceremoniously. Eventually, anyway. That’s what I think.

You can already see MS shifting away from the longstanding model and towards a smart device model with Xbox Series S/X anyway — “Xbox” being the brand or the name of the device with “Series S” and “Series X” as two separate lines, a lower-end one and a higher-end one. The idea bears more similarity to something like the iPhone than to the existing game console paradigm in my eyes. Enthusiasts might think it sounds dumb or won’t even believe it, but a lot of people with an iPhone don’t know which model they have. They just know it’s an iPhone and that’s it. Same for plenty of other smartphones too. Probably the same will happen with game devices in the future. They’ll fall in line with most other consumer electronics in other words.

My other prediction is that current console manufacturers (M and S at least, maybe not N) will eventually offer a “drm storefront” (like Steam, Epic Games Store, whatever) available on competing devices, including PC and phones/tablets. Same goes for game streaming services or Apple Arcade-like services from major players or others. And their games won’t necessarily be exclusive to their own service (rather timed exclusives, like currently).

Anyway, these are just my guesses. Some of them may be unfounded or ridiculous — what do I know? Still, I believe the trend toward uniformity, homogeneity, and conformity will continue, for better and worse.