With Nintendo releasing the Wii U last November, tech experts claimed that Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation had met their match. In what seems more like retaliation than a well-planned strategy, both companies swiftly announced upgrades to their own gaming consoles- the Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4 respectively. Now while Sony and Microsoft continue to dominate the gaming market with their products poised in the $299 range, Nintendo targets lower end consumers with their products placed at $99 (Wii) and $249 (Wii U) respectively. While these three companies may have maintained a stronghold over the gaming market over the last two decades, all of this looks certain to change as Steam by Valve and Android from Google are set to give them a run for their money.
Valve’s new feature for Steam is christened Big Picture Mode (BPM) and aims at shifting gameplay from computer screens to televisions. This virtually eliminates the hassle that would earlier plague gamers with respect to speakers, keyboards, mice since the gamer will effectively have the freedom to switch to the couch in the living room while plugged into the TV with a controller. Valve is set to add value to this system by releasing its own hardware called the Steam Box. In the event that Valve price their product competitively, it will go a long way in entrenching them into the gaming market.
Android has also innovated its way into the gaming console market by virtue of the new $99 console, the Ouya. Ouya has also added its own personal touch to the console by allowing developers to modify at will, thus offering Sony and Microsoft a challenge they have no counter to. NVIDIA too has its own version of an Android based gaming console called Project Shield. It boasts of a controller hooked to a 5 inch HD screen which streams games and Steam over a Wi-Fi connection.
Thus, as we can see, Android has the power to magnify its influence over the lower as well as higher end console markets, while Valve can add a whole new dimension to traditional PC gaming with its Steam Box. However, their influence on the market solely hinges on whether either firm is able to expand its game library; because as they say – a console is only as good as its games.
April 4, 2013 at 9:17 am
You’re totally wrong about the prices. The cheapest Xbox can be bought for less than $200 and the PS3 has a $249 bundle on Amazon. The Wii U at its cheapest is $299 with the Deluxe costing $350. I assume this is because of the expense of the Gamepad which the PS3 and 360 lack.