Gaming consoles such as the Microsoft Xbox One, the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Wii U are very popular in the video game industry. However, Ubisoft CEO says that streaming will replace consoles in the future.
On May 12, Ubisoft released its full-year sales and earnings figures for the period ending March 31, 2016. Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO of the company, revealed that Ubisoft executed its plans effectively during the year. Ubisoft released The Division and Far Cry Primal during the period, and the response of the two video games exceeded the company's expectations.
During the earnings call, Guillemot also shared his thoughts about the future of the gaming industry. He estimates that another generation of gaming consoles will hit the market in the near term, but Guillemot also predicts that the demand for gaming consoles will decline, as streaming will gain popularity.
"We believe in streaming — it demands lots of bandwidth," said Guillemot. "We think it's going to grow but today, with the types of games we have, it will still take a bit of time to be more popular."
Guillemot is not the only one in the gaming industry who believes that streaming will take over gaming consoles in the future. Peter Moore, the chief competition officer of Electronic Arts, also signals at the end of gaming consoles.
Moore says that there will be no hardware as intermediary, and games will be accessed via streaming technology. Moore also suggests that existing gaming consoles such as Xbox One and PS4 will also change as the technology improves.
Katsuhiro Harada, the producer of the Tekken series, also predicts that gaming consoles will disappear in the future. He says that future gaming system will include just a monitor and a controller.
Game designer and director Lorne Lanning asked Shuhei Yoshida, president of Worldwide Studios - Sony Interactive Entertainment, how the PlayStation 5 will look like. Yoshida hinted that there may not be a PlayStation 5 at all.
"It was a really interesting thing; he didn't give me a clear answer, but he's hinting at, 'We need to be more agile, none of us know what the future really looks like so how do we adapt to it faster?'" said Lanning. "To me, that's the way he was sort of thinking about it, which I think is the right way think about it."
Rumors are surfacing regarding the PlayStation 4K, but it remains to be seen if Sony launches another gaming console beyond the PlayStation 4K.
Photo: Mark Farrell | Flickr
