The PS4K and the Xbox 1.5 currently have the entire industry in an uproar, as consumers and developers alike struggle to come to terms with the rumored new paradigm; but one entity that seems to be unruffled by the shift to these iterative, upgraded consoles is Electronic Arts.

Speaking during Electronic Arts’ quarterly financial call, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen outlined multiple reasons which, in conjunction, allay any fears the company may otherwise have had with the impending new machines:

• Both Sony and Microsoft realize the necessity for compatibility across devices (exemplified best by Microsoft’s BC offerings);
• EA are moving all in house development towards one singular engine, the Frostbite engine
• The Frostbite engine was designed around the current x86 standard, and so it should be able to handle any upgraded versions of that standard with ease

Put simply, EA foresees no disruptions in its development pipeline and process, even if these new machines do exist- they are counting on hardware and software continuity to cushion the blow.

[Thanks DualShockers]

It doesn’t matter what your own personal take on iterative consoles may be (for the record, I am on board with the idea), when it is all but evident at this point that we will be getting them going forward. And yet, resistance to something like this makes sense- after all, it is a change to the way things are done, an all new idea that changes the paradigm of console generations. Of course consumers aren’t necessarily a fan of something entirely new like this.

On the other hand, there are developers- how do they feel about something like this? What are their thoughts and opinions on the upgraded, improved hardware that these iterative consoles will allegedly have?

GamingBolt recently got in touch with Don Williamson, the former engine lead on the Fable games (and now the founder of Celtoys), and we decided to ask him his thoughts on the rumored PS4 Neo. Here’s what he had to say about it.

“I’m not really qualified to comment on the PS4 improvements as the last Sony platforms I worked on were the PSP and PS2,” Williamson said. “I don’t know enough to form an opinion on why Sony are taking this route. However, it does seem to me that both Sony and Microsoft may end up going down the route of “curated” PC hardware, instead of custom consoles, for the foreseeable future. The 4k goal sounds curious as it’s going to take a ton of horse power and memory to make 4k games; I would much rather the extra power was used for 60fps+ @ 1080p. If this ends up tightly integrating with Sony’s VR offering though, this could end up being quite a tantalizing platform.

And what were his thoughts on having more than one SKU per console, and how that may end up fragmenting development resources?

“If you target more than one platform you will always need to spend more money,” he stated. “How much more is too variable to generalize. However, even if you target the lowest common denominator you still need to spend time testing builds on the more capable platforms.”

On the whole, he, too, appears to be a fan of the prospect- which makes sense, as a tech focused guy, new technology is probably always an exciting proposition. Now the question is- can Sony and Microsoft sell the PS4K and Xbox 1.5 to consumers effectively?

One of them, at the very least, was expected- Nintendo’s NX, which is primed to be the successor to the disappointing Wii U, has long been marked as a 2016 launch. However, what was unexpected was the rumblings of new hardware launches from Sony and Microsoft, too- both of whom look to be launching new PlayStation and Xbox systems. Effectively, then, the launch of new consoles by all three companies leads to a mid generation reset– an all new generation, so to speak.

What Microsoft is planning is as yet unknown- they were among the first companies to raise the idea of iterative consoles, but they went back on that notion shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, enough indications exist that we know they are working on something new, and Xbox head Phil Spencer himself has hinted at an announcement of something beyond the Xbox One coming soon. What that something is, however, is as yet unknown.

"Xbox head Phil Spencer himself has hinted at an announcement of something beyond the Xbox One coming soon."

On the other hand, the PS4K and the Nintendo NX, while both equally enigmatic and unannounced, are far clearer to us- the PS4K appears to be a highly incremental revision of the PS4, enhancing the base console’s specs somewhat to lead to better performing and looking games. The Nintendo NX is Nintendo’s brand new console, and is, according to the consensus found in most rumors and leaks, pegged to be at least a bit more powerful than the current PS4 (where it would stand with respect to the PS4K is unknown for now).

So we have two new consoles coming this year that could conceivably lay claim to being the most powerful console ever released. The question is, will that be enough to sell them to the masses? Remember, the current console generation is only now hitting its stride after almost three years of wallowing in the shadow of the previous generation. Most customers have, within the last year or so, spent a few hundred dollars on new hardware- why would they buy either the NX or the PS4K?

Both the NX and the PS4K will have to make a compelling case for their existence- however, equally important to their ultimate appeal to the mass market will be their value proposition. In other words, how much the machines cost could single handedly make or break their fortunes on the market.

Sony must surely realize that- the reason the PS4 has done as well as it has is because of its consumer friendly pricing. When Sony announced the price of the system, it was just $399- a full $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, and it delivered on this cheaper price while being a more powerful and capable console as well. This good pricing for the PS4 is just the most notable incidence of good pricing moves by Sony in the last few years, which have all lent them a measure of success- the PS Vita was similarly well priced at $249, and the PlayStation VR is priced at an extremely low and attractive $399. Sony, it seems, understands the value of pricing their hardware just right.

"Sony, it seems, understands the value of pricing their hardware just right."

How much, then, should the PS4K be priced at? This is an interesting question that needs to be approached with the full context of the picture in mind: the PS4K, while a new and more powerful machine, is not meant to replace the current PS4 model. Rather, all indications are that the two models will exist side by side on the market- much like how Nintendo sells multiple variants of its handhelds at the same time. Given, then, that the PS4K is not meant to replace the current PS4, but simply complement it, Sony have a lot more breathing room with how they can price the system. Since the PS4K will not be the primary PS4 SKU on the market, but just a premium, high end addition to the PS4 line, Sony can conceivably price it higher than they would have been able to a regular mid cycle refresh, while keeping the regular PS4 model as their cheaper entry into the PlayStation ecosystem.

All of which is to say, the PS4K could be pricy- it will at the very least be $399, a full $50 more expensive than the PS4 currently is (though that difference could go as high as $100, if Sony drops the price of the current PS4 to $299 permanently- as they should), but we could conceivably see it go as high as $449 as well. It would be a high margin SKU sold at the higher end of the market, to those that are willing to spend a little extra money to get the very best that their money can buy. At the same time, Sony will not risk alienating their mass market base either, since the current PS4 will continue to be sold at a lower price. They get to, essentially, have their cake and eat it too.

With that said, a $449 price for the PS4K honestly seems unlikely- $399 seems to be what Sony will target, as that seems to be the magic price point for them. If they drop the price of the base SKU to $299 in this period, then they have a healthy price difference- if not, however, then Sony can make a compelling, implicit case for all would be buyers of the base PS4 SKU to spend just $50 more and get the best PS4 SKU on the market. Given all of these competing factors, we would argue that Sony will end up pricing the PS4K at $399- with the price for the base PS4 SKU probably being kept as is at $349.

"Nintendo’s strongest market, traditionally, has been the family market- the family market is not looking at spending a lot of money."

Nintendo is a far more interesting case to argue. Like Sony, they, too, have learned the importance of price- but because of the opposite reasons. The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U both launched at historic high prices of $249 and $349 respectively- and both did poorly on the market, until Nintendo dropped their prices, and managed to reverse their performance somewhat. Generally, in the past, Nintendo have done the best when they have kept their prices low- appealing to the mass market with their products, as it were. This is particularly important, because Nintendo’s strongest market, traditionally, has been the family market- the family market is not looking at spending a lot of money.

But any discussion on the failure of the 3DS and Wii U at higher price points must be tempered with the realization that Nintendo were essentially trying to sell what was outdated tech at premium prices- while yes, the 3DS and the Wii U had state of the art autostereoscopy and low latency streaming tech to them respectively, they were essentially half a decade old tech being sold at shockingly high prices. The market did not perceive them to be good value at those price points, and it responded appropriately.

The NX, by all accounts, appears to be different- while Nintendo is likely to skip out on the extraneous media functionality that both the Xbox One and the PS4 seem to espouse, it is rumored to be a capable machine- at the very least more powerful than the PS4, and, depending on how it ultimately pans out, possibly more powerful than the PS4K too- at the very least, it would be in the same general vicinity of hardware power as the PS4K.

Then, too, is the fact that Nintendo has now understood the value of selling their systems at a loss should the need for it come- they did it with both, the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U when it was necessary. Nintendo will probably not balk at selling the NX for a loss upfront as much as they would have done before.

"Any discussion on the failure of the 3DS and Wii U at higher price points must be tempered with the realization that Nintendo were essentially trying to sell what was outdated tech at premium prices."

Given all of this, then, how much should the NX be priced at? If we assume that Nintendo will still want to appeal to their traditional family market, but that the NX is a capable, powerful machine, somewhere between the PS4 and the PS4K in terms of power, meaning that it will not be perceived to be outdated, out of value tech, and that they are willing to take a loss on their systems now, then the best price point for Nintendo to sell the NX at will probably be $349- at that price point, the NX will appear to be good value to most families, and avoid the ‘premium’ pricing label associated with prices $399 and above, they will be able to make a good value proposition (a very powerful machine being sold at a cheaper price than the PS4K’s projected $399), and probably not make enough of a loss for it to put a serious dent in their balance books- in fact, depending on how the NX is designed, they may even break even or make a small, tidy profit for themselves.

Of course, these are all just predictions and projections- the final pricing may vary. Sony may decide to be competitive and go in for the kill with the PS4K’s pricing, and try to undercut Nintendo, a strategy they have tried with the competition in the past with the PS4, PS Vita, and PSVR. Nintendo may decide to change their strategy, and rebrand and reposition themselves as a ‘premium’ alternative for the console market. The Xbox One Elite may throw a wrench in Sony and Nintendo’s plans by being a far more powerful machine than either, sold at just $299- right now, it is naturally impossible to know.

But given what we do know right now, or think we know, at any rate, we feel comfortable with predicting the price points for the two systems that we have predicted above. Whether or not Nintendo and Sony go for these prices remains to be seen- and that, among other reasons, is why we are so excited for E3 this year, when the gauntlet for the next round of the console wars will probably be thrown into the ring in earnest.

At GamingBolt, we’re already big fans of the upgradeable, iterative consoles idea, believing it to be the future of the industry. With Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo now all officially exploring the concept in some form, it appears to be a direction the industry as a whole is heading in- and it also seems that at least some people within the industry agree with our assessment.

In a podcast with Game Informer, Oddworld series creator Lorne Lanning spoke on a number of things, but perhaps the most enthusiastic that he sounded about anything was the potential of iterative consoles, going forward.

“Consoles are typically six years (five to seven years),” Lanning said. “I asked [Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei] Yoshida a question at dinner a few nights before DICE 2015, I said “What does the PlayStation 5 look like?” and he said “You mean if”. It was a really interesting thing, he’s hinting at “we need to be more agile, none of us know what the future looks like, so how do we adopt to it faster?”. To me, that’s the sort of way he was thinking about it which I think is the right way to think about it. The idea that you’re going to release a piece of technology that lasts seven years into the future, I think it’s less and less viable even though the generations are lasting longer.

“It seems like that’s in conflict, but when you look at generations of smartphones…And I’ll give you an example. We’ve talked to some of the biggest smartphone companies and what do they want? They want us to be releasing our new PS4/XB1 games titles simultaneously on their latest, most powerful smartphones, with almost the same image fidelity.

“What’s going to happen is that smartphones will get progressively more powerful. We’ve talked to Japanese publishers like Square and they’re releasing on mobiles first and then come to consoles later. Not necessarily out of fidelity, but because that’s where their audience is.”

Certainly, it appears as though Lanning understands that the traditional console generation model is outdated, and no longer fit for a market where consumer electronics evolve in a matter of months- consoles need to keep up, or they risk being left behind.

The PS4K and the Xbox One Elite have not yet been officially announced- but we can probably expect an unveiling at E3 this year.

[Transcription by WCCFTech]

Is the Xbox One Elite (or Xbox 1.5) happening? Phil Spencer has floated the idea previously, although he later partially retracted the statement. But that’s all that we have heard on that front- there haven’t been many rumors or leaks regarding a revised Xbox One with better specs, like there have been for the PS4K.

On the other hand, there is a rumored slimline revision of the Xbox One, one which possibly removes the disc drive, which we have been hearing about for over a year now. Look, what we are getting at is, new Xbox hardware is definitely in the pipeline- we just don’t know what it is.

But we do know it is coming, and today, some substantial evidence for it emerged. NeoGAF user ekim has discovered filings for two Xbox One models identified with model numbers 1682 and 1683 in the Federal Communication Commission’s database. We don’t know what these models are, but we do know we can’t access these filings in full until the end of June- which indicates that there might be a new model being announced at E3.

What will it be? We don’t know yet, but hopefully Microsoft go big, much like Sony did with the PS3 Slim last generation, after the PS3’s less than stellar start.

As time passes, it becomes more and more evident that revised PS4 and Xbox One consoles,with enhanced and upgraded hardware and capabilities, are indeed going to be coming soon. As the time has passed, we’ve gotten more and more acclimatized to an idea that admittedly seemed radical at first, but in the end is a very sensible path of progression for consoles to follow.

But what do people on the other side of the gaming equation feel? Do developers appreciate the idea of these kinds of mid cycle revisions, especially considering the kinds of extra resources they get in terms of hardware to work with as a result? Or are they resentful of changing specs, which is exactly what console game development is meant to avoid in the first place?

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk seems to fall on the side of the scale that doesn’t approve of these upgrades- in fact, in an interview with Gamespot, he went as far as to call the entire idea a ‘gigantic pain in the ass.’

“I’d say that’d be a gigantic pain in the ass that flies in the face of the purpose of consoles,” he said. “It’s funny, there’s actually some stories behind that. For example, the original Xbox…Microsoft actually had multiple different DVD drives. They didn’t tell anyone that, but as a developer you discovered that you have different performance and sometimes you’d have these boxes of refurbished drives and different brands and different equipment. It caused incredible variability.

“The whole purpose of consoles is the set of requirements that you work against from a hardware perspective,” he said. “To change that is complete lunacy.”

The idea, he feels, is not suited to the console market as a result of this.

“I just think it’s bad,” he said. “I think, ‘lock it’ and let developers do their thing. But at the end of the day, if you can focus your development effort on one set of hardware requirements and target, you are going to get a better result. It’s easier than having to split it, adding more people, having to port things across.”

“It’s like dipping your toe back into the PC pool where you have to consider all these things. It was nice on console not having to consider like performance sliders. But it’s just crazy. I guess maybe [Microsoft and Sony] feel the need to.”

Personally, I am not sure I agree with him- I think iterative consoles are a very logical evolution for consoles in a changing market.A market where technology evolves rapidly, and consoles either need to keep up,or risk being left behind in the dust.

At this point, it seems very likely that the promise that Sony and Microsoft first nebulously made back when they announced the x86 hardware platform for the PS4 and Xbox One will be coming to fruition, and that iterative, upgraded consoles will be a thing soon. Microsoft have already referred to potential future Xbox hardware, and rumors of PS4K are getting hotter by the day.

Of course, developers probably have their own take on the matter- do they welcome this move, or are they resistant to it? Given that one of the appeals of consoles has been a fixed hardware spec that all developers can target, surely they are unhappy about this move towards a rapidly iterative platform?

Andy Tudor from Slightly Mad Studios, the folks who brought us Project CARS, at the very least, seems to be enthusiastic towards the notion- at least somewhat. While discussing future projects in an exclusive interview with GamingBolt, Tudor brought up the PS4K and Xbox 1.5 himself- noting the potential they offered to developers. 

We asked him whether for Project CARS 2, Slightly Mad Studios would look into targeting a resolution of 1080p on the Xbox One (the original game ran at 900p on Microsoft’s console). Tudor’s answer gave us an insight into where developers stand on upgraded consoles, should they come to pass.

“Yeah, certainly, [1080p on Xbox One is] something we actively are looking at, definitely,” Tudor said. “And it’s interesting to hear the news from Sony and Microsoft about upgradeable consoles, essentially. So, whether that is the PlayStation 4K or Xbox 1.5 or whatever you want to call it, that’s certainly interesting from a development point of view, what we can take advantage of, when those consoles or add-ons or whatever they may be, come around.”

“You know, higher frame rates, or getting a game to run at 4K on a console, as opposed to just a PC, or getting full parity on a console, so it’s running at 1080p on both, PlayStation and Xbox… so yeah, it’s something that we will always be looking at, and it’s always our goal to get parity across every platform that we release on, absolutely. It’s just that sometimes there are, you know,restrictions, or things that we need to overcome in order to reach that, so yeah. It’s definitely something we’ll be looking at for Project CARS 2.”

So what are his thoughts on these upgraded consoles from a consumer’s perspective, we asked him. Did he think that there was a potential for fragmentation of the userbase, and alienating the millions who had already purchased the 60 million PS4 and Xbox One units out in the wild?

“I think it’s too early to tell, to be honest,” Tudor said. “The full information is not released yet, so I think it would be wrong of us to comment on rumors at the moment.”

Which was a fair response- so we decided to return to the development side of things- did he think that PS4K and Xbox 1.5 represented a good move for developers?

“It depends on how it’s done,” he answered cautiously. “I didn’t say that it’s a good idea, necessarily, but that we will always look at- if there is more power available, then we will be there to look at how to use it, yeah. But, there are good ways and bad ways of doing that. Would it be a good thing to bring out a brand new console which is more powerful and that annoyed the 10 million people who bought the original one? That wouldn’t be a good thing.”

“Equally, would it be good to bring out an add on that, you know, attaches itself to your existing PlayStation, and if you have an add on, you can use it, and if you don’t have the add on, then we can’t use it- okay, well maybe, that’s a bit like mobile development, in that we have to cater to the people who have the iPhone 6s, but also to people still on an iPhone 5. So there are pros and cons. But like I said, we don’t know the full details, so it is kind of too early for us to speculate on what our stance would be. But if there is more power available, however it may be, we will certainly look into using it somehow.”

It is interesting to hear his responses- they seem to be more positive, on the whole, than the responses we have gleaned from a lot of other customers and developers. Then again, Slightly Mad Studios are a studio that have always striven to be on the cutting edge, so is it a surprise to anyone, really, that they would be enthusiastic about new technology?

In a sense, the NX appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place- it’s too early for it to be considered a true next generation console, and even if it does outdo the PS4 in key respects, sheer cost effectiveness will limit just how much more powerful its hardware can be- this means that, in a few years from now, once Xbox and PlayStation do launch their successor systems, Nintendo will be obsolete again. On the other hand, if the NX were to position itself as a current generation system, then it would have trouble competing against the PS4 and Xbox One, going on three years old, with multiple price cuts, and loads more games than a system that shall just be launching (with the games available at a cheaper price, too!), as well as the added attraction of vibrant online networks and communities, which is something the NX will have to work on from scratch.

It is the exact same situation the Dreamcast found itself in, back in 1998-99; Sega, too, were coming off of the back of a horrifically low selling system, one where they lost most of their third party support, consumer mindshare, and general relevance. Back then, Sega, too, had dropped the Saturn early to focus on a new hardware launch, that they had hoped would turn their fortunes around. And the Dreamcast had found itself caught between generations- too late to compete against the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and too early to pose a credible threat against the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube.

"The Dreamcast had found itself caught between generations- too late to compete against the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and too early to pose a credible threat against the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube."

Is that the fate that awaits Nintendo, too? Is the NX, then, doomed to fail because of its unfortunate timing, a victim of the poor decisions Nintendo made with the Wii and the Wii U? In ten years from now, will the NX be remembered with the same fondness that the Dreamcast is, the final burst of light and glory from a company that was crowded out of the very industry that it helped define?

Ordinarily, the outlook on the NX would be pessimistic- I am a Nintendo fan, I favor them and their games against all else, but even I have taken pause at the extremely delicate situation the NX is launching into. However, recent developments within the industry may have unexpectedly given the NX a legitimate chance at managing to get away with its mid generation launch- and not just getting away with it, but also at competing and succeeding properly.

I am referring, naturally, to the confirmed and rumored launches of the PlayStation VR and the PlayStation 4K respectively later this year. Sony is launching the PlayStation VR, a new peripheral for the PlayStation 4 that it has outright stated it is going to be treating as a new hardware platform. The PlayStation VR is, equally importantly, probably going to end up extending the life of the PlayStation 4 by at least a few years, not dissimilar to how the Kinect and Wii Motion Plus extended the lifespans of the Xbox 360 and Wii respectively.

The PlayStation VR is not the only new thing that Sony is looking at launching this year, either- although unconfirmed as of now, a number of highly respected and verifiable reports have mentioned the prospect of Sony launching a mid cycle revision of the PlayStation 4, the rumored PlayStation 4.5 or PlayStation 4K, which refreshes the hardware of the PS4 by bumping up the specs of the system a fair bit, but also maintaining backwards and forwards compatibility with the original PS4 models- not dissimilar to the Gameboy Color, or the New Nintendo 3DS.

"The PSVR and PS4K extend the length of this generation beyond whatever its initially projected span might have been."

The launches of these two new pieces of hardware are quite significant. There are two things that they will be doing:

• They extend the length of this generation beyond whatever its initially projected span might have been
• They disrupt the status quo, by redefining it with new hardware launches, essentially imbibing a mindset of purchasing new hardware into the market. This is something that only Sony could have uniquely done this generation- as the market leader, they are in a position to dictate the direction of the market to a large degree

These two points are hugely important from Nintendo’s perspective- an extended generation means that the NX gets more breathing room. Instead of being made obsolete by the hypothetical launch of an Xbox 4 and a PlayStation 5 in 2018 (just two years from now!), it now has until, say, 2020, or 2021, to truly entrench itself. This enables it to properly compete against the PS4 and Xbox One (or their VR and/or upgraded variants), simultaneously also enabling it to have a normal lifespan approaching five years, rather than Nintendo having to scramble to release a successor to the NX in a couple of years time when it would otherwise have been made outdated by new hardware launches. Put simply, an extended hardware generation, such as the one that is resulting thanks to the launches of PSVR and PS4, puts the NX at relatively the beginning of this generation, as opposed to its midpoint. This means that the NX gets to compete in the bulk of this generation too, without having to worry about fending off next generation competition any time soon, or about a short lifespan, similar to the Wii U.

Imagine, if instead of launching the PS2 in 2000 and the Gamecube in 2001, Sony and Nintendo had waited until 2004 to launch their systems- the Dreamcast, launching in 1998-1999, would then have had a healthy 5-6 years on the market, and it would have been able to firmly compete with these systems, rather than being crowded out of the market by shinier and newer machines- that is what the NX gains from a longer generation.

"To the average customer, there will be two new console launches this year- PlayStation 4K and Nintendo NX."

The second point is equally, if not more, important- Sony, as the market leader, gets to define the direction of the market. Whether or not the hardcore forum going video game customer approves of the PS4K and PSVR or not (and even within these enthusiast circles, I have seen excitement for both of these product launches, so in general, it appears as though the market is welcoming new hardware this year). By introducing new hardware into the market this year, Sony are directly and explicitly stating that a new hardware launch is normal and expected this year- that any new hardware launching this year does not, for instance, directly impinge upon, or interfere with, this generation as it is.

The average customer does not even think in those terms. To the average customer, there will be two new console launches this year (PlayStation 4K and Nintendo NX), as well as the launch of a brand new platform (PlayStation VR)- this makes it no different than any other time when multiple new consoles have launched- instead of one console (the NX) straggling and arriving late to the party, there are now multiple hardware launches all occurring at once. This means that the NX, instead of being the Dreamcast launching by its lonesome smack dab in the middle of the PlayStation-N64 and the PS2-GCN-Xbox launches, is now launching alongside another new console- effectively leading to a soft reboot of the generation for the average customer.

The NX, instead of being perceived to be competing against the PS4 and the Xbox One, both three years old and with entrenched libraries, will now seen to be competing against the PS4K- another system with a fresh launch. To the average customer, spending money on a new PS4K will make as much sense as spending money on an NX (of course, this assumption is predicated on Nintendo actually getting it right with the NX in terms of specs, controller, online, and third party support). The question is no longer ‘why should I buy a brand new NX with only a few weeks/months’ worth of games, when I can buy a PS4 or an Xbox One with three years’ worth of games, and all my friends using them?’ The question now is ‘which should I buy from these new consoles, the PS4K or the Nintendo NX?’

"All of this speculation hinges upon Nintendo getting the NX right."

In simple terms, the NX launch and the PS4K launch effectively constitute a soft generation transition. it’s a soft generation transition because unlike a full transition, the ‘older’ consoles, the PS4 and the Xbox One, will still stick around, on the lower end of the spectrum- but to anyone looking to get the ‘new’ and ‘best’ hardware for the money, the NX and the PS4K are going to be the systems in the discussion. Think of this as analogous to the Xbox 360/PS3 to Xbox One/PS4 transition- while the PS3 and Xbox 360 continued to stick around and get games, and be purchased, for years after the PS4 and Xbox One had launched, the discussion squarely shifted to the newer consoles. To a ‘softer’ extent, that is the scenario that the NX and PS4k launches recreate- and assuming Nintendo get the NX right, there is now no reason that they should not be able to compete and actually establish the NX in the market.

All of this speculation hinges upon Nintendo getting the NX right, of course, and there is every possibility that Nintendo don’t do that, especially given their recent history in the console market. For all we know, the NX is underpowered, gimmicky, overpriced, and undersupported again. If that is the case, then this discussion is moot, and the PSVR and PS4K forge their own destinies independently. However, assuming Nintendo does get the NX right, there was, earlier, always the danger that the console would not do well still, simply because it would be neither here, nor there- but that no longer holds true. By launching the PS4K and the PSVR, Sony may be giving Nintendo and the NX just the opening that they need to be able to compete, and reestablish themselves in the larger industry console market.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

As we move further into this generation, it becomes clear that upgraded and iterative consoles will be a thing. Rumblings of Sony’s PlayStation 4K, a mid cycle revision of the PlayStation 4 that substantially adds to its capability, have already started leaking, and Microsoft have themselves stated that they wish to launch iterative hardware going forward.

Speaking to Michael Pachter, well known analyst at Wedbush Securities, recently, I asked him what he thinks of these shorter upgrade cycles, and iterative hardware- is it a ploy to keep console gaming relevant in a rapidly evolving world?

“There’s always going to be a place for [consoles], which is why I said that, you know, I think the addressable market for consoles will be halved, but they’ll always be a reason for some people to buy them,” Pachter began. “I’m just talking about, you know- look at the Nintendo DS and 3DS- sales have been cut in half, because a lot of people who bought the DS are now playing games on their phones. And they are happy with that.

“And the fact is that in 2016, there are probably a billion more people playing games on their phones than there were in 2006- so the addressable market has expanded dramatically. All I am saying is, and this is where Nintendo is going, if you offer an experience comparable to DS and 3DS on your phone, you’ve got a billion people who will look at it, not 100 million- so the big opportunity is there.”

This assault by smart devices is what has led to a change in strategies by the big three, Pachter believes. This is what has led to new strategies by Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft to stay relevant.

“I think everybody sees it. And Sony will try to stay relevant, just like Nintendo is trying to stay relevant. And what Sony is trying to do is offer streaming services. They are trying to offer television, which is why we have PlayStation Vue. You know, they are trying to offer a lot of different things, that their box is different for. And of course, there will be the PlayStation VR.

“And Microsoft is making Oculus work through Xbox- they’re trying to stay relevant, and for a meaningful number of consumers, they’ll all stay relevant. I’m just saying, if the next generation consoles launch, and the box is $300-$400, and the publishers all say, ‘we’re gonna be on the Xbox Next or whatever it’s called, and PS5, but you can also play that same exact game, but without a console, then some people will say, ‘well screw that, we’re not buying a console!’ And I don’t think anyone can stop that- it’s in the publisher’s best interests to allow their content to be enjoyed anywhere,” he concluded.

On the whole, I think he has got this right- as I said myself before, the market is changing, and consoles need to evolve with the market. If upgradeable consoles is what it takes, then so be it.

The Xbox One’s Elite controller will be releasing on October 27th, just in time for Halo 5: Guardians.

Priced at $149.99, the controller features quite the assortment for customizable features. You can swap the thumbsticks, change the paddles and even use a different D-pad. That’s not taking into account the triggers which are meant to be more sensitive. It’s meant for hardcore players though, especially when you consider that the normal Xbox One controller retails for $59.99.

It will be interesting to note how the Xbox One Elite controller compares to the normal controller, especially when it comes to first person shooters like Halo 5: Guardians. Regardless, it will be there for those who want it.

What are your thoughts on the release date for the Xbox One Elite controller and are you looking forward to Halo 5: Guardians? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming month.