UKIE: Sony and Nintendo Should “Become Content-Only”
Andy Payne, Chairman for the trade association for UK Interactive Entertainment, UKIE, believes that Sony and Nintendo should stop manufacturing hardware and bring their games to the iPhone and Android platform.
Speaking as part of a roundtable discussion at the Develop Conference in Liverpool, Payne was asked how long it will take before Sony and Nintendo realize that exclusive games are holding back their first-party titles from wider success. Payne replied:
I think it’s already happening. I think it would be a massive relief to both Sony and Nintendo to become content-only. Right now, they might not even know it. You know that thing where you take drugs and you think it’s the best thing in the world? Then you get off them and go, ‘What was I doing?’
After saying he wasn’t speaking from experience, he added:
To answer your question: Imagine any Mario or Zelda property being on the iPhone or an Android phone. They’d get £10 or £15 for it, because people would want to pay to have it on their phone. They would. And that would be amazing. And Sony’s content is amazing. I mean, Uncharted… it’s just brilliant
Continuing:
I’m not knocking those guys, because they really do make fantastic games. And when we kind of get that bit over, wouldn’t it be refreshing to have Nintendo really making stuff for the iPhone, Android, and all the other stuff that’s around?
Phil Gaskell, creative director at RebelPlay, concurred:
I completely agree. It’s happening already. Their strength is in their brand and their content.
The comments came after Payne leveled criticism at the three major platform holders for their approach to production fees, arguing that lowered costs will result in a lower price tag for games, and an increase in sales:
Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft [are] dinosaurs, because they’re using these old-fashioned business models where you have to pay a royalty, tribute, tax – whatever you want to call it, it’s quite a lot of Euros per unit, fixed, [based on] what you order as a publisher, not what you sell.
If that was to come down, if those companies were to shave those right down to something more acceptable – let’s say it’s €1 to manufacture it, where the real cost is €0.20 – then that would put games into the hands of consumers, at retail, at circa £20. You’d have more people buying games, less of a second-hand market, probably a bit less piracy, and that market might carry on for a bit longer.
Of course, the “old-fashioned business models” are exactly why Sony and Nintendo want to hang on to their consoles – first party game sales only make up a small part of their business, with royalties from third parties bringing in huge sums of money – something they wouldn’t get on the iOS or Android markets.
[Via]
34 Responses to “UKIE: Sony and Nintendo Should “Become Content-Only””
It may be nice to get those games to a wider audience, but then that means leaving Microsoft alone and unchallenged in the console market. Never, ever going to happen.
Not only that but look at PS3 and Wii compared to the 360.
-PS3 is a beast of a console and still hasn’t been tapped out and is still gaining features while being one of the most robust media centers, and allows you to use most peripherals without needing them to be specific to PS3.
-Wii had a completely new control scheme with games that appealed to casual gamers, yet had some great titles that even hardcore gamers enjoyed. (SSBB, Skyward Sword, Mario Galaxy)
-360 runs on DVDs, charge for everything online, locked to M$ 360 hard drives, forcing developers to downscale games and won’t let other versions of the game have extra features even though they want to get them, ect.
From that alone I think the exact opposite has to happen. M$ should stick to software, I mean imagine trying to play MGS4 which filled up an ENTIRE BLURAY disc on a phone compared to something like Halo Reach that took ONE DVD.
Also, less piracy? Did they forget about a thing called Jailbreaking? >_>
I won’t dignify that with an answer…………. but I do have 1 word for him “Idiot”
this guy should stop taking drugs then he’d be able to realise “What the fuck was I saying?!” The day Nintendo and Sony stop making consoles is the day Microsoft announces their Micronaters and we come one year closer to them becoming self aware and destorying all mankind making the mayan 2012 death calander a reality.
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAA…that was not funny.
Your right your comment wasn’t funny. Don’t worry I doubt your days in the field of internet stand up comedian would have lasted that long anyway
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAsshole.
Yeah sure whatever you say buddy
Yay uncharted and mario are bring made in comparison to games on mobile that provide maybe 5 minutes of fun, max…. Touch controls are horrible, why are people trying to force everyone to play such sub par games?
spoken like a true noob who has no idea of wht real gaming is all about
Sony may make more money doing it that way, putting their games on other systems. But is gaming really about just the money? Isn’t it about the game being fun and full of quality? Not some lame, cheap, uninteresting touch game that just happens to sell a lot and reach a huge market? Sony is an entertainment company. I have not played a single decent game on my iPhone since getting on on day 1 when I worked there. The games can be fun for a few minutes, for casual playing. These guys have no idea what they’re talking about. Sega stopped making hardware, but did this keep their games good quality? How many good Sonic games have come from them out of the multi-dozen they have released since not making consoles anymore? And why isn’t MS included in this article? You really think a big budget game like Uncharted can even fit on an iPhone? And if it did, would it really be any good (compared to the cinema experience on the TV with Bluray and Surround Sound, not even to mention the DualShock 3)? There are restrictions when developing on a tiny portable phone compared to a computer-like console connected to a huge television screen utilizing Bluray discs for storage. Do these guys think all movies should be made for cheap just to reach more people to make more money? Maybe even shorten the standard length of movies to keep the costs down for everyone involved? It doesn’t work.
*facepalm* This guy says it better than I ever could: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
I love my iPad 2, but the only games I play are puzzle/touch games like Angry Bird, GlassTower, Scribblenauts, and Fruit Ninja. I’ve tried NOVA 2, Resident Evil 4, and those Gameloft ripoffs, but the virtual onscreen joystick just doesn’t work. Mario and Metroid would be nothing without a perfect control scheme, and Uncharted needs the level of immersion from not having to worry about my hands becoming too sweaty to swipe across a screen.
Microsoft should remain content only
Well I don’t know about your idea of Android Gaming is, but isn’t the Vita an Android based OS, along with some aspects of the PS3 with Linux? And Sony buying out Eriksson for their stake in Cell phones they were building together. And with PlayStation Suite are they not making Android based games available from the PSN Store?
This is why the British nearly tanked their currency with the help of an outside Hedge fund in 1992. With thinkers like this they make a harder case for following their advice.
I’ve never enjoyed games on my phone, I have an android phone, but I’d never play games on it for more than a few minutes. Forget these guys, cell phone gaming is such a joke.
Something Marcus on the PSP commercials was right about: I’m sick of people saying look at this game I have on my phone. Very few (if any) actual gamers with a system (PC, PS3, 360, Wii, etc) would say that they’d rather play their favorite games on their phone. I certainly wouldn’t. This is what handhelds are for.
let him try to play Uncharted or any of the other amazing Sony exclusive games on a touch screen phone and then repeat that statement….simple games like Pac-Man are a pain in the ass to play on a touch screen let alone any sort of action game. Why wouldn’t Microsoft be included in this statement as well? and how does this guy propose I then play the Sony exclusive titles on my giant TV? These people need to get over the fact that smart phones should even be in a conversation about gaming. Sure they have some decent simple games that are addictive but the audience they are made for and the audience that Sony currently markets to, apart from Move games, are completely different.
wow thats got to be the worst thought anyone has had ever
*facepalm x10* wth really? Of course it would be nice to have content to a much broad audience BUT never just for something so silly as an iPod/iPhone/ android phone. I’ve played some really nice mobile games and yet, so short, easy and for small time period play. We need dedicated systems [portable in this case]. This guy is simply stupid =/
I agree with most of the people who have commented so far…but for people who think this is a good idea…why? Haven’t you ever had that euphoric moment where, with every boom or crash with surround sound, haven’t you thought, “Damn I love gaming”?
spoken like a true gamer
hear hear!!!!
I couldn’t agree more. there’s a guy that lives next door to me and he’s always saying mobile gaming is going to crush console gaming. I always tell him he has no idea what the hell he’s talking about. There is no mobile device that will replace my wonderful console. To me mobile gaming means playing things like angry birds or puzzle games. Which would you rather play Uncharted 3 or some no name puzzle game. I’ll stick with my awesome console and he can have fun playing his mobile games.
This quad core Tegra 3 android tablets coming next month (with graphics matching those of the latest consoles) mainstream gaming will definitely follow. You’re kidding yourselves if you think otherwise. I do love my PS3, but I would also love to just hock up a blue tooth PS3 controller to my tablet and HDMI out it to my HDTV. Also with GoogleTV SLOWLY picking up speed games will follow there as well. We saw mobile gaming overtake Nintendo and Sony hand-helds this year. Many analysts believe that 3DS and Vita will be the last gen of their kind. Sony is smart to buy out Ericsson part and open up their PS Suite for Android to become the first major player to strongly move to the mobile world. If the mobile tech will keep moving even at the same pace which it most likely will, I have a strong feeling that PS4, XB720 and Nintendo’s new console might be the last gen of their kind as well… But It’s just my opinion I might be wrong… Now I’ll go back to playing Uncharted 3
Wow…really? Hell, I still have problems playing Metroid & Megaman on my phone…playing games like Uncharted and Killzone will probably be much more difficult for me, or they won’t be as good as on a console.
I’d of course play them with a bluetooth controller. I agree touch controls suck for most complex games.
Funny how they leave out ‘Micro$oft’ in the – “UKIE: Sony and Nintendo Should “Become Content-Only” tittle LoL F**K’EM & F**K M$, i will NEVER buy a Xbox console in a million years :-/
I thought the same. This won’t happen for a huge number of reasons, for one Nintendo and Sony make WAY too much money for this to make sense for them. Also like Reality Check mentioned why not Microsoft? Why are they any better then Sony and Nintendo? Sure he mentions them as being an old dog but he dosen’t seem to mention them needing to switch to this content.
Something tells me MS paid this guy off to make Sony and Nintendo look bad to both the public and the shareholders of the respected companies. (Or I’ve misread)
Then there’s this piracy issue, so a company like Sony who’s thought long and hard for the consumer rights should bow down and give their content to companies who just laid down and let George Hotz hack their products. He won the court case against Apple and he can jailbreak iphones and mobile devices so if anything you’ll put the content at risk by placing them into mobile gaming.
What it comes down to though is I want the consoles, I like playing games at my home and what these people like Andy Payne don’t understand is that for some of us Mobile gaming isn’t the way forward, it’s a good way to play games but I don’t want to downgrade from a powerhouse like the PS3 to a small, weak iphone which as great a product it is was not designed to play PS3 games,
this comes from a man who simply dosen’t understand the hardware or software of a product. The PS Vita is more powerfull then an iPhone and that if we remember is a four core system that can only just play PS3 games. Now imagine where a system that dosen’t have four cores behind it would handle a game like Uncharted and you’ll realise why this is such a stupid idea.
In fact I have a suggestion for Andy Payne. Chaireman of the trade association, leave the decisions to people like Jack Tretton, there’s a reason they got those jobs.
mobile gaming sucks. sure its cheap but the games are pretty shallow and please i dont want to poke at my phone when i play games. i need buttons and pads. also i want to play my games on a huge ass screen at while sitting down on my couch. so yeah. i hate mobile games.
What happens when games like Uncharted 3 come to your android tablet/phone and you can use a bluetooth controller and HDMI out to your HDTV?
Consoles will never die as long as I exist and you exist.
what about movies? should they also go mobile only? just wtf…
Just had to log on and say that this guy is heavily on drugs, sounds like the same type of mind that came up with the idea of pizza being a vegetable… and mobile games completely suck!!!
Me too. That is the most retarded I’ve heard in a long time. The reason Uncharted became popular was when it was played on a console on a TV. You can’t just port that for the same experience on a mobile device, IT WILL BE a different port with a different kind of gameplay, which won’t resolve in people getting insanely into it.
I agree with everything that has been said, but I simply had to write something…
It’s sad, though. I wish that most people would play other things than Angry Birds and other simple mobile games – I really hope that the Vita will do well, but mobile gaming is probably too strong..