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We always love hearing from ex-Xbox boss Peter Moore — a legend of the industry and one of the best Xbox leaders of all time — and he's shared some interesting thoughts about the validity of consoles in an interview with Kotaku.
Moore explained that "the money" in selling hardware is usually in the software, subscriptions and add-ons that consumers purchase after they've bought it, but if console costs continue to rise as a result of the component crisis and other factors, it may get to a point where people say they simply can't afford it anymore.
He suggests that hardware manufacturers are probably worrying that they can't make enough profit right now:
"I think that’s probably what the hardware manufacturers are noodling right now is, the cost of making this stuff is now getting ridiculous. We can’t compete. We can’t even get supply for what we need because the chip manufacturers are fueling artificial intelligence demand. And they’re looking at [consumers] and probably say, 'We can’t make enough profit on you.'"
He then goes on to talk about the constant speculation we've seen over the years about how consoles might die off and people will just stream games to their TV or play them via other means instead. He says the answer has always been "yes, we do" when people question whether another console generation is required, but still believes that we'll "eventually just have a chip in the TV" that does the job of a traditional console of today.
“Every generation, the last two or three generations, we’ve all said, ‘Is this the last console generation? Do we need a dedicated piece of hardware between us, the television and our controller?’ And the answer so far has always been, yes, we do. But I’ve always said since I got in the industry in my Sega days, eventually you’ll just have a chip in the TV that will allow you to Netflix-style look at all the games that are available right now and how many people are playing and you’ll jump in. And do you need something between that experience on your screen and your controller? The lag and latency will be close to zero. And so off you go."
Ultimately, he sums up by saying that "this is a real test for the validity of a video game console", and that he believes either technology will catch up or gamers will find another way to enjoy their hobby without paying high console prices.
“I think this is a real test for the validity of a video game console. Either technology will solve the problem or the gamer will solve the problem by saying, ‘I can’t afford 800 bucks for a console. I will play on my PC. Maybe figure out ways of streaming the game to my 4K TV. If I don’t like to use a keyboard and a mouse, then I can get a controller that will work and off I go.’ And the PC becomes your console. I think that is the challenge. Gamers will always find ways to play games.”
Of course, this is all assuming that console prices do continue to rise, and unfortunately we've heard already from Xbox that they're expecting the component crisis to get significantly worse in 2027 compared to 2026.
Once we hopefully come out the other side though, there's every chance that console pricing could come back down to a sensible level in the years to come, but in the meantime it seems like it's going to be a rocky few years for Xbox's Project Helix console, the PS6, and all the consoles that are part of the current generation as well.
For what it's worth, I personally believe that consoles will always exist in some form, but they'll undoubtedly be forced to evolve and adapt as time goes on. The idea of a future where consoles are replaced by streaming solutions doesn't sound exciting to me whatsoever, but I could also see it becoming the mainstream way of playing games down the line. If that happened with Xbox, I'd probably just make a PC my "console" as Moore references in his quote!
Anyway, what do you think about all of this? Let me know down in the comments section below.