Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida says that he believes consoles will gradually be phased out as 5G mobile networks roll out worldwide.
This is according to a new report by The Financial Times, which quotes the Square Enix executive as saying he believes the speed of a 5G network would “herald the long-term demise of the dedicated games console” as the primary platform for video gaming.
“Once 5G becomes the global standard, there will definitely come a time when we can transfer images to any device,” Yoshida told the FT. “Players can enjoy a high-quality gaming experience on any device by not being tied to a gaming hardware or TV monitor.”
He also said that despite the increased popularity of console systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, the gaming industry is “definitely heading in that direction, and I don’t think coronavirus will slow this shift”.
“With home consoles, you need to sit in front of the television… and turn on the power and wait for the hardware to start up, so it was a time-consuming entertainment,” Yoshida added. “With stay at home, there were more opportunities to turn the switch on.”
Over the past year, several tech companies have been pushing for adoption of their cloud gaming services, including Microsoft, Amazon and Google. However, latest consoles by Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment – the Xbox Series X|S and PS5, respectively – have also been more popular than ever, with supply shortages set to continue into 2022.
In other gaming news, Microsoft recently alleged that it has never made a profit off the sale of its Xbox consoles. The tech giant added that it keeps selling its hardware at a loss because its business model is built around an “end-to-end consumer experience”, which involves more profitable avenues such as video game sales and subscription services.
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