I must add, i'm not going off the single format topic but feel it would be irrelevent if a single format machine arrived.
The same games would still exist anyway.
Nobody in the UK new any different when the VCS was around (itellivision aside - most here were to young to import the thing).
We knew no better.
The games producers would still have to make money and (in this scenario) would have to surcome to the fact that they either make games for that machine, or die.
Sega did. They were left to produce games only, but they still release pup (18 Wheeler 2 for example).
But their will never be a time when a console arrives and only hosts games that companies know will sell to the masses.
Even if it did, i'd argue that as programmers would be fighting internally as there would only be one machine.
There would be no other consumer choice.
In theory with three/four formats, the companies know they can sell enough copies because a given genre is not well subsribed, so any slop will do.
But if you ask the Ps2 fanbase, this has proved this not to be the case. The Ps2 still has slop released on it, even though every genre is well subsribed.
Of course, big media licensing doesn't help, but this would not change.
If you look at the arcades, companies used PCB's to produce their titles. General knowledge (and Mame) is testiment to the fact that many differents game genres were created.
As tech moved on and companies made money, they were able to customise their boards, but for many years the PCB's ruled.
All that changed were the games.
The same games would still exist anyway.
Nobody in the UK new any different when the VCS was around (itellivision aside - most here were to young to import the thing).
We knew no better.
The games producers would still have to make money and (in this scenario) would have to surcome to the fact that they either make games for that machine, or die.
Sega did. They were left to produce games only, but they still release pup (18 Wheeler 2 for example).
But their will never be a time when a console arrives and only hosts games that companies know will sell to the masses.
Even if it did, i'd argue that as programmers would be fighting internally as there would only be one machine.
There would be no other consumer choice.
In theory with three/four formats, the companies know they can sell enough copies because a given genre is not well subsribed, so any slop will do.
But if you ask the Ps2 fanbase, this has proved this not to be the case. The Ps2 still has slop released on it, even though every genre is well subsribed.
Of course, big media licensing doesn't help, but this would not change.
If you look at the arcades, companies used PCB's to produce their titles. General knowledge (and Mame) is testiment to the fact that many differents game genres were created.
As tech moved on and companies made money, they were able to customise their boards, but for many years the PCB's ruled.
All that changed were the games.
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