If Microsoft left the console game market

What would happen then? What would happened with Nintendo? Apple and or Samsung join console market?

Is it safe to say that Sony would get extra 90% console gamers from Xbox One owners to PS4 aka PS5 meanwhile Nintendo users stays loyalty to their own platform? PS4 and Xbox One are kinda same.

Right now Playstation 4 has more than 50% market, Microsoft about 30% and Nintendo 20%

If we remove Xbox One and add those numbers to PS4 and compare with Wii U, then Market share would be : Sony 80%, Nintendo 20%

If Sony really had 80% then Sony would earn massive profit which allows them to make more exclusive games and game developers also would earn more money since you have to work now only 1 platform and games sells well because... well its the only gaming platform where people are buying games. Then Nintendo would be in big trouble, maybe even flop and go third party? lol then Sony would get like 100% market share.

Anyway, if Microsoft left then would Apple or Samsung join console market then? It would be difficulty since they have no exclusive game studios + no loyal people.

If MS left then Apple or Samsung probably wouldn't bother, they'd probably stick to making set-top-boxes for streaming TV and apps and maybe some of those features it could support might eventually try streaming gaming like Gaikai or OnLive, or stick to basic non-demanding type games like people play on their smartphones or tablets, but on the TV. Also, Sony would lack significant competition to force lower pricing and better hardware on next generation console, nor any real competition to fund third party games or even compel them to have first party killer apps.

Also, I think Nintendo is only one lackluster platform away from going third party whoever is left in the console business. Even if they go all out on hardware on the NX (if it is indeed a home console, not a portable), and they have better hardware than the PS4, better ports, consumer and developer support, but it releases too early, Sony would only have to leapfrog them with a better system in a year or two and be back on top in uncontested dominance.

I think MS being in the market is best for everyone. Who knows what would have become of the PS3 had MS not been there to set the bar higher and pave the way for many console features. Granted, I don't think there was as much room for growth this gen other than non-gaming features. But still, they had a significant impact on gaming while their success lasted. They just got an ego and didn't compete for the market like they did prior. Hopefully their mistakes of this gen are a humbling experience.

But PS1 was dominating, they earned massive money and after that PS2 had even bigger domination and earned lots of money, Sony made more exclusive games than ever.

PS1 had some competition meanwhile PS2 did not have any real competition and yet PS2 had more games, more exclusives and games were better than ever.

Well if third party studios has only 1 console where to make games then they earn big money and this alone would force third party studios to make more games on Sony consoles.

I mean if you had 3 consoles or 1 console and you had to make games then why would you make games on 3 consoles (some console low sale, costs more money) when you can make games on 1 console (where you earn big money and developer cost is low since its only 1 platform).

@FreedomFreeLife: that is a good point too. On PS1 Sony did everything right in attracting third parties and even developing their own first party IPs. And on PS2 yes they still kept that up. However, with modern games costing so much and being a gamble in many respects with development costs and marketing, I'm worried without any real competition Sony might scale back their first party games. After all, sure first party game sales mean money in many cases, but they also get a cut of all games sold on the system even from outside publishers. It might be more lucrative for them to simply let the third party market do its thing and not feel compelled to compete with their own games. Just look how Valve doesn't really make any more games, isn't pressured to function like other publishers and calculate and rush games to meet quarterly and fiscal year deadlines. They're not under any pressure to do anything with their signature series anymore since the money just keeps rolling in being the middle-man for the platform and third parties.

Sure, Sony could keep making great first party games, or they might not, there's no way to tell. But, I think they'd be more on their toes, and more likely to compete with price and better hardware and top notch games if they had to compete with someone trying to do the same.

They will leave console hardware. They all will. It may come sooner for some brands than others, but proprietary hardware isn't the future. Games as a service, and cloud access on any device, that's the future.

I could see MS leave hardware behind tomorrow or ten years rom now. Their commitment to conumer offerings and investments like Minecraft tell me MS will remain in the gaming business for a very long time in some form or another.

PS1 had competion from the n64, dreamcast, saturn and the allmighty pc. The ps2 had competition from the gamecube and xbox and again the allmighty pc.

The ps2 was only so successfull because it created a lot of fans with the ps1. The ps1 was so successfull because of the cd. A co invention by sony and philips. Nintendo couldn't get to an agreement for the rights of the cd and for that the n64 was less successfull. On the other hand, no one knew what kind of price sony and philips were asking, maybe the nintendo would have been too expensive then.

Competition is the drive to go forward, there's a reason why communist countries didn't have any innovation. There's also a reason why the ps4 and x1 are so weak, there are no other competitors at this time. If microsoft would suddenly stop making x1 there would be a hole in the market where money is to be made.

There's even a hole in the market now because the ps4 and x1 are weak consoles, if someone would release a strong console with some great first party games, sony and ms sales would drop significantly.

But exclusive games are made by studios. As we know, studios can make their own games and Sony never forces them to do anything. I mean ND said that Sony never forced them to make Uncharted 4. ND can make games they want, Sony dosent care. Also if you have platform where you earn money then you want to make new IP because you know that you earn all your money back. If you have 3 different platforms then sale is already split, lower and it´s risky to make any new IP games.

Well Valve is working on Source 2 Engine, also Left 4 Dead 3 and Half Life 3(yep, those are confirmed but not by Valve but leaked). Last month Valve said that Source 2 engine will be free. Also they working on Dota 2 updates, Team Fortress 2 and stuff like that. Also they have to take care about steam community and make this better.

Well why first party studios wouldnt make games when console install base is massive? They always working on something.

The whole of SW would QQ having no American company to hate on eh, I suppose EA could get mooaar hate, that may work for ya. :P

Less competition is always a bad thing for consumers.

Most people can only purchase so many games, so developers would not see more money, they would see less money. IMO if MS left, then most Xbox fans would just go to PCs. Even though I own a dusty PS4 I would still purchase most of my games for the PC.

+1.

The financial state of Sony would cause them to be lazy and maximize profitability by not investing into the console. Microsoft keeps them on their toes (particularly with the software updates to the console).

You wont see M$ exit the console market. X1 is a central theme to their thole new services orientation along with Win10.

Good riddance I would say, the garbage they brought can all be shoveled back to them. They better get something good, or get.

PC.

Well right now Sony needs money or else Sony bankrupt. You want to see that? Microsoft has too much money, Sony has money problems. Support Sony then.

Uh MS really didn't change the PS3. Not sure why you give them credit for that. Sony removed the backwards compatibility [sucks} to bring the cost down. Much like MS did this gen with Kinect. Though I do applaud that Kinect is still an option for those who want to spend the extra money.

MS best? The market did fine without MS. In fact...some of the policies of MS...ie paying for online is an infection on gaming that is spreading. I'd rather SEGA than MS. Sega innovated but never lost sight of the gamer.

Now the question is would anyone else enter the console market because to be sure you need competition. And Nintendo sadly doesn't really provide it anymore. But to say any specific brand is necessary is not really true.

It would suck for games. Competition breeds innovation and we've seen what Sony does when they get complacent

@LJS9502_basic: you're lying to yourself if you don't MS had a positive impact on the ps3 and ps4

I'd still prefer SEGA over MS. To clarify...I'd prefer SEGA over any of them.

What had an impact was the sales actually. If the PS3 had sold at high numbers as is......do you think Sony would have emulated MS? No. It's always sales dude. Always. And the cost being so high taught them a lesson. When the price was more in line with the current market the PS3 sold. It eventually passed the 360 with a year less time on the market.

@LJS9502_basic: no shit Sherlock. But why do you think the 360 sold more? Same reason the Ps4 is in the lead this Gen. People weren't going to put up with Sony's bullshit unless they made a change just like MS this Gen. If it was just the Wii and ps3 last Gen or just the Xbone and Wii u this Gen then the gaming industry would be fucked and a lot worse off.

If Microsoft left the Console Market they would just be making bank with Windows like they are now. After all that's where most of the gaming support is in PC gaming.

What happens when you have less, or no competition

It would be terrible for gamers. ALL gamers, even the PlayStation fanboys that irrationally hate Xbox. Competition forces companies to improve their product and prevents them from taking advantage of the customer.

If Xbox left the market then Sony would dominate and then they would start doing the same kind of crap they did when the PS3 launched. Anybody that doesn't think the PS3 and PS4 became better because of Xbox is a blind fanboy.

microsoft should go 3rd party just put games on pc/ps4

there console days are prolly over

imagine if super mario galaxy and halo 5 were on ps4 gamers would be great

its the superior gaming machine just get to work on that one imo

This. See Comcast ....and Madden.

No, I don't want to see that and my post never suggest that I want that. I lean more the Xbox, but I'm never over the top about it. What are your thoughts? Do you want to see multiple players in the industry?

I support both companies with my dollars, although the Xbone is my only current console. I'll get a PS4 to be my Naughty Dog console when its time. I really don't have the time for much gaming nowdays so two consoles would be a waste, at this time.

I think they had a negative impact on the PS4, actually.

@PurpleMan5000: in what ways?

Pay to play online, timed dlc, "console exclusives", reliance on 3rd parties, etc.

We need all 3 console companies in the market to breed competition and quality.

we dont need competition the marketplace has decided to go exclusively with the ps4 20 million sold

they aren't branching out consumers are the end all be all they dont want competition they dont want xb1 or wiiU if they did woulda equally purchased them sony is killing the competition they myswell not exist at this point

I'd be very surprised if someone else didn't jump into the market. On the other hand i'm not 100% sure how long we'll keep getting traditional consoles, i doubt Sony would be bothering with PlayStation Now if they didn't see a future of streaming and there's not too many companies who've got experience in that.

I'd hope that Nintendo would come out with a competitive console, it's not felt like they've been in competition with Sony and MS for years anyway so i don't agree that there has to be 3-way competition, i think two parties really duking it out would work best.

Yes you do. Even if I do enjoy Sony if there was nobody else in the market it would allow them to be less focused.

no dude stuff like comcast has no competition and my internet never goes down and i have 60 mbps all day an night with huge download speeds the ps1 and ps2 had no competition an were some of the best systems of all time

the NES also no competition some of the best gaming lineups of all time

it just doesn't ring true

competition didn't make sony better sony was good because sony is good

competition made them worse now they charge for online like competition and do shadier things since mircosoft entered the marketplace an put ideas in there head

its done nothing good for gamers lately

Xbox leaving console gaming would be a PS fanboy wet dream too bad it will never happen. It's far more likely that PS would leave given Sony's poor circumstances financially. Besides, like it or not MS has done more for console gaming than Sony ever has.

@PurpleMan5000: not sure what planet you live on but Sony built it's gaming division on exclusive deals with third parties.

All that other stuff is pretty minor.

yeah, just think of how great it would be for sony to be able to produce games like the order and lair and gran turismo and haze and socom and driveclub and knack and with no competition.

we would not even know they are shit.

we would just think that is what games are supposed to be like.

I think they are pretty major. I mean, I don't own a PS4 because of them.

Anybody leaving th console business is any rival fan factions wet dream. As much of a sheep I am despite Iwata's recent bullshit with his mobile decision, I still wouldn't want Sony or MS out of commission.

Part of the reason that whole Tomb Raider fiasco was hypocritical, ALMOST, if not as much as the Bayo 2 fiasco when that was announced as a Wii U exclusive.

Sony made the PS3 as it was due to the Xbox and the pre-announcement+Head start launch of the Xbox 360.

The PS3 never surpassed the 360.

I'll be honest, I'd probably celebrate. Ex-Segadrones, who would now be ex-lemmings would need to find a new comfort blanket.

Yeah, thanks for the cheevos, patches and MLG guff.

PS1 and PS2 had competition. Most of the sales of those systems came from after the competitions was starting to drop out or after they dropped out. Yeah they were still ahead before then but no competition is silly. Especially in NA.

I mean SOny rapidly pushing Online and adding certain features to the PS2, and the features released with the PS3 had to do with "no competition" from the competition.

Competition brought US a generation where consolable together almost reached 300 million. Almost 400 million with handhelds included.

Because, yeah, it's not like the SEGA fandom split up to other systems, such as their former hated console company (Nintendo). /roll

Based of the OP and his replies it sounds like they would just like MS to be gone which of course what a lot of super die hard Sony fans would want cause they think Sony is the best. Even when people say that competition is best for consumers he just would rather the developers and corporations make more money which is funny. All in all from what it looks like Sony is doing great MS is doing fine and Nintendo is doing ok . There is no reason to think any of them would be going anywhere unless you can show that these new consoles are costing these companies so much money that they can't survive.

The strange thing is OP used to be a hardcore lemming and kinect supporter he had xbox one kinect model and kept saying how great the xb1 was with kinect an now hes hating on microsoft i think because microsoft cut some support for his kinect so hes mad :\

i kinda feel bad for him but at the sametime i dont

@PurpleMan5000: That's fine but IMO the small fee to play online has been more than worth it. It's not like xbl or ps+ are expensive.

Uh did you miss the fact the PS3 did not lose to the 360? Or is this revisionist history you are trying here?