The new generation of video game consoles have been hits so far, at least if you’ve been able to get your hands on them. Outside of the systems and games themselves, however, just as curious is the developing infrastructure that surrounds them. While new in the video gaming space, these ecosystems have precedent in the landscape of online casinos. Comparing the two reveals some interesting truths not just about the current state of the gaming market, but in what it wants to achieve going forward.
The Lay of the Online Casino Market
Having evolved in a world heavy with direct competition, modern online casinos have their work cut out for them. Managing in their market often means offering as broad of a range of games as possible, then supporting this range through the use of clever bonuses and special offers.
For a more illustrative example, consider the slot games offered by major casino websites. These can include hundreds of individual slots, like Mystery Museum, Vault Cracker, and Age of the Gods. Varied in terms of theme, graphics style, music, and bonus games, each of these slots is designed to cover its place in the market. Yet, as varied as these slot games are in themselves, they’re only one part of the bigger picture. Including such elements as sportsbooks, poker, and live casino games, the idea of online casinos is to be the one-stop shop that a player needs. In a nutshell, this is exactly what modern consoles developers are attempting to accomplish.
“Dualsense controller” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Sergey Galyonkin
The Console Efforts
With the three major consoles developers, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, each is aiming to make their ecosystem the biggest and best. Each has taken a slightly different tack to achieve these results, but the end goal is shared across all three.
In Sony’s case, they’re leaning heavily into both system exclusives and free monthly offerings from the PSN store. This free system is especially important because the games can only be accessed with an active subscription. For players who have been collecting titles for years, this gives a major reason to stick to Sony systems.
Over at Microsoft, the same idea of keeping an active platform remains, though they’re going about it in a slightly different way. Here, they offer a cheap package for Xbox and EA free games. Best illustrating this drive is how Microsoft offers a monthly payment plan for their Series X and S systems, which works out to considerably cheaper than buying both the console and subscription individually.
Nintendo, on the other hand, is trying to corner the handheld market, while also leveraging the comparatively lacklustre power of the Switch into games that embrace style foremost. This move lets Nintendo have a part in both the console and handheld market, in a move that has led the Switch to an early victory.
“Nintendo Switch” (CC BY 2.0) by jjbers
Despite the different directions taken by these developers, the central tenant is the same as in online casinos. Each wants to generate enough continued value to make their platform the only choice, and each goes about it in slightly different ways. For the sake of avoiding monopolies, we can only hope that all succeed in their own way, and none end up going the way of Sega. If nothing else, this latest-gen marks a place where systems push away from the traditional just selling games envelope, and try something new. If the developments of online casinos are anything to go by, the variation brought by this new step could be a very positive thing.
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