Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House has been revealing a lot about the PS4 and the future of PlayStation during theĀ Develop Conference in Brighton. One such revelation is about the future of PlayStation and gaming in general. Andrew House believes that:
There are two or three potential directions that our industry and our form of entertainment could go
So what exactly are those directions? Let’s talk after the jump.
House believes that the music industry has served as a good study for game industry and PlayStation.
I’ve been paying attention to what’s been happening to the music business and I think someone told me recently that the people involved in the music industry are maybe a fifth of what they were ten years ago. If you look at the stats on music streaming last year right now, last year was the first year that music downloads actually decreased year-on-year. It’s only by six percent, but it’s on the downturn. Streaming, meanwhile, is something like 30 percent up.
As House rightfully reveals, music purchases over the years have dramatically declined. While for a long time, iTunes was able to rescue the industry by giving consumers an easy and legal way to purchase music, thanks to the mobile boom and growing connectivity, consumers have been shifting their interest towards music streaming which gives them access to a wide range of music. Luckily for Sony, House and others noticed this trend a few years back and hedged their bets on it.
Our acquisition of Gaikai and our commitment to PlayStation Now is again very much in the spirit of looking at how the distribution method is going to shift over time.
He followed up with:
No one can make perfect predictions about where these things trend but it says to me that convenience of streaming has been embraced first in music, now in video and television, and it’s going to play some role in our business as well. Our goal, rather than have the future dictated to us is to try and be a pioneer, shaping the way it goes. That’s what we’re trying to do with PlayStation Now.
Beyond streaming, House believes that sensors can potentially play a large role in how we play video games. In the past few years, companies like Fitbit and Pebble have made waves with wearable technologies. in 2013, Sony held 7% of the SmartWatch market and it’s believed the category will truly flourish and hit mainstream later this year when Apple is rumored to be releasing the iWatch.
We’re also seeing a revolution in the development of sensor technology, whether it’s lifestyle fitness management or the trend for wearables, I think we’re on the cusp right now of seeing a huge number of these different sets of technology get down to the physical size and low cost where they’re going to be very ubiquitous. This could play some sort of role in a new generation of interactive experiences.
While not revolutionary, the gaming industry has already dabbled with this type of gameplay that was first popularized by the Nintendo Wii. What House imagines is beyond handheld motion controllers like PlayStation Move and instead sensors that could further blur the lines between gamer and game in a more natural way. Taking this one step further is Andrew’s third direction that the gaming industry could follow and is once again a field that Sony is invested in.
Then the third one is virtual reality. There’s just a sense that we have that the technology is again reaching that tipping point, it’s on the cusp of being something that really delivers you true presence, of feeling like you’re in another world. When that’s delivered it’s really magical and I think that how far, how large, how quickly that’s going to become a major part of what we do remains to be seen, but we definitely think the magic of that experience leads you wanting to pursue it
While all three are key areas of growth in the tech industry, gamers tend to be slow at tech adoption and change. Instead, we straddle the line between nostalgia and innovation quite tightly that sometimes goes against the flow of technology. With consumer taste changing with each new tech possibility, predicting how and what gamers want will be difficult but House and company believe Sony is positioned well to accommodate their needs.
Discuss:
Where do you see the future of gaming going?
[Via IGN]