- Joined
- Jan 15, 2019
This is a fun thought experiment, and I can't resist.
Apple wouldn't lower themselves to produce a low-spec low-cost console, so they'd go the "boutique" route with a high-priced console with their "Apple silicon" SoC's and their famously nasty walled garden model. Online-only, of course (Apple ID/account required). Generic but overpriced controllers. They're probably in the best position in terms of infrastructure to crank out tools for a tightly-controlled ecosystem that's a pain in the ass for developers and useless for anything else Apple-related, and to produce final hardware and software so locked-down it won't even be worth trying to crack (someone will do it anyway just to piss them off though). The system would be priced higher than the priciest 3DO back at its launch, sell like shit (only Apple fags would bother) and last maybe 2 years before they deprioritize or give up on it. First-party software will be mediocre, third-party software non-existent.
Google/Alphabet has lots of hardware experience thanks to Android, has existing software and hardware infrastructure for digital sales, but like practically everything they've ever done, the first iteration would be half-baked enough to give it a bad reputation and strangle it in the crib. Support would end unceremoniously 2 years post-launch. It'd launch with pricing to undercut Switch 2, be online-only (Google account required), have weird controllers no one likes, and the only software you'll ever see on it is mobile slop and shovelware.
Samsung would be entertaining to watch. They make solid hardware and (barring those fucking "smart TVs") reasonably good software (their flavor of Android is surprisingly flexible and fast). They're in the best position to produce a high-spec Android-flavored console at a decent price, but they're the only one in this list with no experience whatsoever with content production of any kind. They'd be completely dependent on third-party developers at the start to have a decent launch lineup and first couple of years' worth of software support, and the quality of those releases would make or break the console. Given the available "talent" in this industry in recent years, that effort would be doomed from the start.
Amazon has the most experience with dirt-cheap modestly powerful hardware. Those Fire TV 4k Sticks are fucking insane these days and they're still routinely sold for $30 a piece. Their e-readers and tablets are similarly cheap (for the most part). I know they subsidize most of the hardware on the assumption it'll capture customers, but I see no reason why they wouldn't do the same for a game console. They've got tons of infrastructure and engineering expertise, and experience with content production (TV and film). Of course, they've already dipped their toes into game software production, and those failures have all been spectacularly entertaining. They've also made some retarded moves, like licensing CryEngine and paying CryTek a fucking fortune so they could fork it, publish all its source code and do their own thing with it. It was called "Lumberyard," and flopped like a dying fish on a bear-soaked fishing pier.
Apple, Alphabet and Amazon are substantially woke-contaminated, which would automatically taint their creative output, and they're so monstrously wealthy they'd all take the "lol just throw money at it" approach (which we've seen rarely works ... I think only Microsoft managed to crank out two winners in a row on their first try when they dove into the console market). Samsung is Korean, so wokeness wouldn't be as much of a problem, but they've got the least experience producing entertainment content. They're not as wealthy though, so they would at least pay some attention to controlling costs and would be more likely to approach AA developers than the other three would be.
I genuinely don't think any of them would meet with any success, but the hardware would be fun to tinker with (apart from whatever Apple vomits up, because it'll be so locked down and undocumented it won't be much more useful than a paperweight) and the attempt to muscle into the console market would be entertaining as fuck. It also might kick one of the big three in the rear enough to start actually innovating again instead of just iterating on the mediocre current generation hardware & software.
