Square Enix boss Yosuke Matsuda has issued a New Year message, outlining what the company aims to achieve as we move into 2019. Most notably, Matsuda mentions "rapid adaptation of new platforms", specifically video game streaming and subscription services.
"The current generation of game consoles has entered the late stage, and the next generation of consoles has become a topic of discussion in the digital entertainment industry," Matsuda writes. "Meanwhile, cloud streaming services for gaming have at last begun to show signs of taking off. Streaming is likely to bring a number of new platform operators into the market in addition to the existing console providers," he adds.
"These developments produce a growing number of avenues through which game publishers and developers can provide content. In particular, game streaming services will be the ultimate driver of a rapid transition from the sale of games in boxes to digital consumption. Streaming also lends itself to new subscription-based business models, so we believe deciding how to engage with these forthcoming trends will be key to future growth."
Obviously Square Enix won't be the only big publisher keeping a close eye on these developments, but it's clear that streaming and subscription services are two growing aspects of the industry that the company is prepared to lean on rather heavily.
Last year, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot stated that the PlayStation 5 could be part of the final traditional console generation before streaming takes over. Naturally, his thoughts didn't go down especially well with gamers in general. And now with Matsuda and Square Enix commenting on the same thing, we have to wonder whether streaming games really will become an essential part of the industry.
What do you make of all this? Will streaming play such a substantial role in the future? Pray your connection holds in the comments section below.
[source hd.square-enix.com, via siliconera.com]
Comments 62
Well no consumers seem excited by the idea of Streaming games but the Publishers sure love it.
$quare €nix
This is publishers dreams basically, the ability to control 100% of the games experience. I'll pass, I mostly play single player games so I don't like streaming games.
They used to do a browser-based streaming thing years ago. I had a Mac and it let me play Hitman Blood Money therefore it was a win for me. It was a lot easier than the eventual virtual machines and wrappers I had to use to get it working through Steam.
@3Above agree most gamers dont want it not intrested. never mind the internet issues as well.
@Shepherd_Tallon plus they also have to say this things their financiers want to hear
i'm sure at some point streaming will be a big part of gaming but i doubt Physical will ever go away because shops get their money from games sales and many shops said that they wouldn't stock any console that didn't allow physical media when XB1 launched Game Pass
but i can see the 2 sitting side by side physical and digital
It's like these company bosses dont know that not everyone in the outside world has good internet connection :/
I'm not a fan of the idea of game streaming. Sure I'm a sucker for physical games and with getting faster internet last summer I'm getting my VR games digitally.
But man, I don't care for this.
Until someone gets the tech right and a good consumer model, I don't think streaming will take over. However, once someone innovates like Netflix did and makes something that is value for money and far more convenient then it will shift very quickly.
Right now, faith in streaming is very low given the risk of latency and inadequate internet in a large percentage of the globe. So it will take a gamechanger to move to streaming.
And down goes another company.
Do they think about what would happen if streaming and subscription services completely took over? I highly doubt "future growth" is somewhere in there.
@DerMeister they dont care about those who wont be able to stream the games, what they care about is the money they'll save by stopping the release of physical sales, and monthly revenues they'll gain via subscription
Streaming means controlling prices, not bothering with compatibility nor optimisation, avoiding resellers, physical versions, leak and piracy. Of course devs are all for it.
But the only way I'd settle for streaming service for games is a Netflix-like/PS now subscription. ~£10 to access the whole console catalogue, zero bugs, 100% availability and no more generation/compatibility problem so we can play any game released on the service years after their release.
Edit: also I'd need a better internet connection.
@Rhaoulos that's the problem, these bosses needs to know what the kind of technology the average consumer has before making these bold claims to appease their investors
Streaming is definitely going to take off on. Multiplatform and especially mobile. Consoles are different I believe and I'm not sure how mp can cope with streaming anyway.
What I find concerning is the ever growing types of subscriptions some gamers find so 'Pro consumers'.
It's a trap indeed.
Streaming is still "the future", but it's a future that isn't that far away. 5 years maybe, which would coincide with the end of the PS5. 5G cell phone service should kick off this year, maybe 6G will be the real deal.
Digital is a lot closer. PSPgo is how many years old now? And the Switch carts are so small Nintendo might as well make an all digital Switch.
And in case you old foggies missed the news, digital is already huge in gaming, no mobile games are bought physically yet its a billion $ business and growing.
This article is eye opening.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2018/09/08/mobile-gaming-revenue-global-could-top-100-billion-2021/37673325/
So while I'm not to keen on streaming myself, I fully expect PS5 to have a subscription service similar to Xbox Gamepass, even if it's only older games to start. They should have something new to offset PS+ being PS4 only in a few months.
Time to get over the hoarder mentality and embrace the future chaps!
I hate all those buzz words that the suits spout.
Yeah Square, consoles will disappear, single-player games are irrelevant. PC and e-sports are the big deal.
Pachter, Eurogamer and Gamespot approve this message.
@Amplified I feel like there's a good point, but would the money saved offset the potential losses? My major concern about a subscription based future is how many subscriptions are going to be needed to keep up with gaming? For example, will we need to buy EA's service, in addition to Ubisoft's, alongside Square's, to get their game catalogs? Will we need a subscription on separate consoles? Will we need their subscriptions too? And then there's stuff like PS+ and Xbox Live Gold.
There's a chance it could be like @Rhaoulos's suggestion, but nothing is set in stone, and if it turns like how I fear it would, gaming could be a financially draining hobby, and that's the last thing I need it to be.
I hate Square Enix so much as a publisher. I hate that they own some of my all-time favorite franchises.
@Amplified They do see the numbers, though. Digital is about to take over physical. In some cases, it's already happened.
@3Above of course they love it, 100% control over your games, it kills the used market and they can terminate your games at a shorts notice when the cloud service stops functioning, they have their knifes and forks at the ready just thinking of the prospects of it.
@Amplified i don't think they even care at this point, they have this "adapt or die" approach to it.
@rjejr imo i think after a while ps+ will merge into streaming only, the free games will be broadcasts from sony and you just play them as is, they won't let you download and play them anymore like in the past, very high chance of that happening.
@DerMeister now times that at a yearly cost, those numbers are worst than a horror movie, be very scared indeed!
#killallstreaming!
@Shepherd_Tallon @anguspuss They're trying to speak it into existence.
Lol bugger off SQEnix.
Unfortunately that are probably right but I can't say it's a future I'm looking forward to. My internet now isn't 100% reliable despite it's speed and how much I pay. Then the games themselves, the likes of the recent Spider-Man could easily vanish as publisher rights change hands and be lost forever, or niche games which have a small fan base may be cut loose.
Not to mention how much any potential cost to the player may be, already we have Gamepass, PS Now and EA access, what happens when all of the publishers decide to stream their own games? How many subscriptions would you need? Even today with the likes of Netflix and Amazon I find more often than not that the movies I like aren't always included but are available for purchase separately.
It's probably and inevitable future and at least I'll have enough classic consoles and games not to have to worry if I do decide it's not for me
@Rhaoulos I hear you, and that pretty much the only way it would work. I just dont like the idea of only playing a game is the internet is on. Sometimes I go out to the countryside and bring my PS4 but no internet. 🤷🏾♂️
yea? what does s-e know about anything these days?
Streaming sounds more like something that gives the poor access to games when they can’t afford the latest consoles. Not something that provides a better experience.
You’re never going to stream a game to a VR headset. The latency would make you very sick very quickly.
Yet Netflix and Hulu have been in the red every fiscal quarter since their inception. Sounds more like a good way to commit corporate suicide...
Plus even in first world countries like the US even most major cities don't have access to sufficient internet let alone rural areas. You'd be lucky if even 5% of any given country's population has access to internet speeds that are sufficient for streaming games...
I can't see myself choosing to use streaming to play games any time soon. Too many negatives and unknowns.
I've already more or less "checked out" on contemporary gaming. Have my huge backcatalog on Vita and 3DS plus numerous classics on a wide selection of platforms ranging from arcade and Sinclair ZX Spectrum games to a few PS4 games, that I intend to replay from time to time.
I have preordered the RE 2 remake though, but other than maybe a single Vita game I have nothing I'm looking forward to.
My "checking out" from gaming is not something that have happened "overnight"; it's been a gradually thing that more or less started back when PS2 took over from the original PlayStation.
Of course there have been great games since then (action games have generally become much more advanced), but action adventures (which is what I really loved the PS1 for) have gradually become more and more generic IMO.
Fighting, driving and FPS games have gradually become more and more graphically impressive, but IMO more or less plays like they always have (the Vita IMO hit the sweet spot when it comes to graphics - they simply don't have to any better on a 5 inch screen).
Ok, that sounded like a bit of rant, but in fact I'm happier gamer than I've been the last maybe 17-18 years, because I finally gotten time to look into my backlog, simply because there aren't really any new games that interest me anymore (I'm not even really pumped for RE 2 remake, but expect it to be quite alright).
So I'm not so bothered with streaming maybe becoming the future, even if my own experiences with it have been rather bland (streaming PS4 to my Vita - sometimes great other times downright terrible).
@huyi Well then I would never renew.
But since they are now letting us download some games on PS Now makes me think there is no reason for them to go back the other way to make us stream everything. And really, a lot of those indie games could run on a watch so there's no reason for them to stream all the games, maybe just the high end ones.
But if they can make it run seamlessly and lag free, so much the better. Microsoft is certainly trying very hard.
In case you missed the xCloud news.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/8/17950878/microsoft-xcloud-game-streaming-xbox-games-features
@rjejr scary future indeed.
Not interested in streaming games in the slightest.
"Well, you do it with movies!"
Yes, but movies don't require split-second timing on input, and aren't generally unwatchable if the connection bugs out and the video goes blocky for a few seconds... something which could mean life or death in a game.
For many games, servers often can struggle with 64 people playing when it's just receiving controller and location input. Imagine if it's having to pump out 4K video and 7.1 channel audio to them as well.
No, give me a dedicated box under my TV any day.
and in 2028 when games are 4320p/60fps we're going to get them streamed with less than 16ms of input latency? dream on. whether games are on disc or downloaded, i think tech will move on that will still require big games to be executed locally.
i don't buy movies digitally, because i don't and can't own it, as no store will allow you to download it as a non-DRM'd mp4 file that you can watch on any device with any software. apple originally got into trouble over this with music files, i don't know why it's ok for movies. netflix works because it's £5.99/mth for unlimited viewing for whatever selection is available, regardless of the movie/tv studio/distributer.. it's the price of a couple of blu-ray rentals. it wouldn't work if sony pictures, warner brothers, lionsgate, fox, mgm, etc. etc. made their films available only on their own platforms at whatever cost per month.. who'd pay for all those subs? and do the studios release enough of their own content that would justify paying every month.. unlikely. it's the same for game publishers. an all-streaming future i think will result in several of the bigger publishers struggling...
These people don't seem to understand that buying digital and playing digital are two very different things...
If I have slow or bad internet connection, I can leave my console on overnight to download stuff, but I certainly can't leave it on overnight waiting for the game to respond to my inputs...
@kyleforrester87 Or even better start classic collection and #### the new companies. 😁
@Neolit Oh my old discman sounds so much better then the most expensive MP3 players. Oh i miss some of the old stuff. 😢
Yes im old. 🤓
Is it possible but i think i hate Square Enix just as much as EA and Activision Blizzard. Well i had no hope for FF7R anyway. Funny i rather spend my money on a limited run indie game now then on a Square Enix game and least those are finished and fully patched.
Bored in the plane het let get my PSVita or my 3DS i dont even need a internet connection.
@Kindaichi Alex Wright avatar!!
@3Above i tried that with the money tree but still nothing lol
@Kindaichi well as others said netflix is losing money so are the rest. amazon lose money on their video service as well. and they can get buy on worse internet connections.
The fact is this isn't going to be "forced" on anybody. When the time comes, and everything is right, it'll be so natural you'll hardly notice.
Then you'll just be moaning about the next thing.
And it'd be utterly foolish of any big industry player to not start preparing for this kind of future today.
@kyleforrester87 What planet are you living on? Almost nobody can stream modern games yet and they are already talking about it. I can't even see 25% of the population having sufficient speeds in 20 years, this would weed out the vast majority of gamers who would play, except they won't be able to because of location. Also you apparently must be a millionaire if you think people complaining about having to pay subscriptions out of the wazzoo is "moaning"...
@TowaHerschel7 Ah right, so they should only start to talk about it when the infrastructure already exists? What planet are you living on where you think these things just "happen" without a degree of planning and effort? You're saying the technology isn't there, and of course i completely agree, but if everyone had an attitude like you it never would get there, either.
As for people paying for content, as ever consumers will vote with their wallets. If the value is there, people will pony up. If it isn't, companies will go bust. I don't know about you but I would never lock myself into any subscription service that I didn't think I got value for money from. You don't "have" to pay for anything. Who would lock themselves into vast numbers of subscriptions that they both couldn't afford and didn't enjoy? It's a ludicrous argument. You're just scared of change.
@Kindaichi Disco Inferno was the first name in my head!
@kyleforrester87 No I'm scared that I'll no longer be able to play games. As should 95% of the population who could suddenly be unable to enjoy video games...
Do you honestly think internet service providers can magically twitch their noses and make the infrastructure available to all in 5-10 years?! They'll have to lay tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of miles worth of fibre optics, replace millions of junction boxes as well as making fibre optic leader lines from the junction boxes to every home "they currently use copper lines", this would cost trillions and likely take decades to perhaps an entire century to accomplish, and that's just here in the US...
@TowaHerschel7 and do you honestly think they will ever get to that point by having your attitude? Square are planning for the future, so when the infrastructure exists, they can continue to exist. They are not saying this will happen tomorrow, but of course they need to talk about it today. Changes will be consumer driven, and that will happen naturally as technology develops.
95% will not be left behind, because if only 5% of the market can access the content, Square will not rely solely on streaming as a method to deliver games. There will be a tipping point at some stage in the future. It's that simple.
@kyleforrester87 That's not necessarily the case though. It's a numbers game for them and unfortunately for us they could afford to make their product inaccessible to 75% of the population at some point in the future if this new business model saves them in excess of 75% in overhead costs. What then? You're looking at things two dimensionally, they are in it for the money and don't necessarily care if their product can be accessed by a large number of their fanbase...
Yes! Paying a monthly fee for renting, not owning your games. It's what we have always wanted!
@TowaHerschel7 That's like saying they shouldn't have moved to CD's because a percentage of people still used tapes, or they shouldnt have moved to DVD because a percentage of people still had VHS players. It's called progress. Like I said, these changes are not going to happen over night, but the wheels will be turning now and the companies that survive will be the ones that react sooner rather than later.
@Rudy_Manchego Netflix is great but i dont want to take ages to find a game i want. Netflix is great for that price nothing more nothing less. Too be fair if they increase the price once more im cancelling my subscription. 😉
@kyleforrester87 How will you make it work with some different stuff to play. I start to cringe at the thought that we would locked in on a EA or Activision Blizzard or something just as bad the Ubisoft cookycutter formula with games. Here we have 3 companies already the greediest around you think they will drop their stuff on a open platform. I can see them asking you too bend over if you want their special stuff. This future will destroy the originalty of the industry. 😢
@Flaming_Kaiser Well, "I" wouldn't make it work, that's why I don't do it for a living. But I don't land probes and stuff on the Moon and Mars either It's for the visionaries and smarter people to work out.
I agree, the idea of a company like EA having a strangle hold over the industry in this way is alarming but that's not realistically what I would see happening, simply because the current market caters for all sorts, and that market will still exist even if the method of delivery changes. If a gap like this opens up someone will seize the opportunity. Look at the music industry, new methods of content delivery have made it easier than ever for original content to gain exposure. The same has happened with video as a result of websites like YouTube.
It just comes down to fear of change at the end of the day.
@Flaming_Kaiser Yeah I have no idea what the model will look like but I think at the current price, Netflix is good value. Of course, if it keeps going up that won't be the case.
@kyleforrester87 Except CD's work as long as you have the hardware and electricity. You seem to not comprehend that the infrastructure just isn't there and won't be for many decades. Most of us will not be able to utilize streaming games unless we move to a select few metropolis's which most of us can't realistically do for a multitude of reasons...
@TowaHerschel7 well we're going round in circles here. You say many decades, and I say it'll be many decades and longer if everyone had your attitude. Fortunately they don't and there are companies and individuals out there with a bit more foresight and ability. Less than 20 years ago we had 56k dial up and it cost 10 pence per minute, if we were lucky. Now we are talking about people replacing their wired broadband connections with 5G. Companies have to prepare for the future - today. Have a good weekend.
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