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Say No To A Single Platform Future.

In the past few weeks I’ve endured some utter tripe disguised as journalism. “How Activision can kill the Playstation”. “Why Sony should stop producing hardware”. Etc. The usual link-baiting nonsense that I won’t dignify with the hits the authors so desperately crave. The usual tosh that seems to promote a single-system future. Reading such articles makes me wonder though. Why on Earth would anyone want a single system future?

The very root of what drives most industry is competition. People make great products, then others make equally great products and as such the former products have to get better. Gaming is no different. Mario was pushed by Sonic. Nintendo were pushed by Sony. Sony are being pushed by Nintendo and Microsoft. It’s business and it works, without competition we can’t imagine progress.

Imagine a future in which Nintendo holds the future. Or Microsoft, or Sony. It doesn’t matter which manufacturer you imagine as the sole force, just pretend there is only one. That manufacturer would be able to sell their product at a ridiculous price and they’d see no pressure to lower it. As the only system available, people would be forced to buy it regardless. This would be a future much unlike the present we are experiencing now, where Sony are being forced to lower the price of their system because of the lower prices of the XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii. Who wins? The consumer, because there’s no doubt by the end of this year we’re likely to see lower priced XBOXs, Wiis and, most importantly for this example, Playstation 3s.

And what of the actual hardware itself. Out of the box the Playstation 3 differentiated itself from competitors by offering a wide array of media capabilities. The XBOX 360 provided the excellent Live service and the Wii offered motion controls. What would be the need for any of these features in a single console future? There’d be no need for differentiation, no need for unique selling points, no need for progress. Without the competitor the console can stagnate and wither, because people will buy it anyway. Again, without the option there can be no progress.

The only thing that could ever benefit from a single console future are the availability of games. The consumer could buy whatever games they want, and I can’t find an argument for how the quality would dip on a single platform, I doubt it would. However, the loss of the “exclusive” game would be depressing in the least. Games like LittleBigPlanet would fail to ever capture any imagination outside the boxes of “exclusive”. It’s these games that capture our hearts and shape the console into being a personality. How could this ever come through when every publisher is fighting for prominence on a single platform?

I appreciate people want to be able to play everything that’s released and I understand it’s expensive to buy all the consoles. But the fact is, none of us should be wishing for a single platform future because, while Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo compete for market share and revenue – we, the consumer, are getting the very best they have to offer. Take two of those companies away and we all lose.

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

Previous entries in the “Twiggy” range:

• The Digital Download vs. The Peripheral, Is The Video Game Industry Moving In Separate Directions?
• The Ideas Presented In Mirror’s Edge & Red Faction Guerrilla Will End Up Everywhere – “Twiggy” The PushSquare Opinionator
• The Importance Of Exposure Against An E3 Splash: Which Is More Important?
• Sony’s Wand Technology Sent Out A Fierce Message To Competitors Hours After They Comfortably Assumed Victory
• Sony’s First, Second & Third Party Alliances Will Ensure A Thrilling E3 2009 Showcase
• Playstation 3 Is Platformed Out With Bionic Commando & inFamous This Week, And It Reminds Me How Much I Love Super Mario 64
• In A Year Dominated By Blockbuster Sequels, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain Vision Could Be The Diamond In The Rough
• Here’s What I’d Request In The PSP Go! If I Had A Job At Sony & A Say In Such Things
• Does The Playstation 3 Need Motion-Control & How Will Sony Apply It?
• Why Did Guerilla’s Killzone 2 Force Me To Kill The More Interesting Good Guys? I Hate The ISA!
• Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference Could Be The Biggest In History & A Turning Point In Software Perception
• A Playstation 3 Pricecut Could Cripple Sony So Stop Asking For It