Five Reasons The Next Console Generation Is Going To Suck

I’ve owned consoles in some form since I was eight. I currently own a PS3, a gaming PC, a Nexus 7 tablet and God only knows what else that can play games.

And I honestly have to admit I’m viewing the upcoming console generation with something resembling active dread. Even though I’ve already preordered a Ouya.

There are many reasons for this. The corporate stars are aligning to bring forth the greed beast. Trends in mobile gaming that are annoying there are about to jump into sharp relief on consoles. And above all, it’s likely everybody in my family is going to wind up with some form of these things and I’ll spend holidays fixing them.

Here are five lines of writing on the wall.

Brace Yourselves, Truly Epic Piles of Shovelware Are Coming

Nobody seriously thinks that the next console generation won’t feature some form of streaming games service. Here’s the problem, though, they need all the games they can get, and they won’t be too picky about where they come from.

Mix this with the fact that anybody can put out an Android game, and that the next generation of consoles is practically guaranteed to feature some form of Android compatibility and, well, yeah. This has an upside: games like The Dark Knight Rises demonstrate that truly beautiful and acceptable gaming can be made available for reasonable prices and I think we’ll see an entire new generation of developers turning out AA games. Call them the farm team.

But I also think we’ll see a tidal wave of crap.

Free-To-Play and Freemium Is The Annoying, Ugly Future Of Our Beloved Franchises.

I don’t imagine that the next round of consoles will have any lack of games you can demo and then buy the whole shebang for an up-front price. But publishers would much, much rather have a game where every time you play it, you have to give them a few quarters for the best gear.

And do you seriously think that any franchise will be able to escape that? It’s amazing Call of Duty isn’t already trying to milk you like a cow. I can see some of them avoiding it, but huge hits like Madden, Gears of War, and Fallout? Lube up your udders, Bessie, because they’re going to get squeezed like it’s junior prom.

Kickstarter Will Become a Guilt Trip

Hey, speaking of getting milked, expect a lot more of this in the future.

Kickstarter will always be a funding agency for independent games. That’s not the problem. The problem is that for any franchise with a rabid cult following but a small wider audience, that cult following is going to have to pay through the nose to get that game released.

Think about it: the Kickstarter model is perfect for publishers. It sets a funding goal, it sets rewards, it makes clear the cost, and most importantly it puts the burden of release on the fans. Instead of having to hear about some cult franchises never getting its due, you can just say “Hey, we tried, and you didn’t care enough to pay for it. Now shut up and go away.”