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When Todd Howard, Bethesda Softworks game director and executive producer on Skyrim, was asked what the one thing he’d change about the games industry is, he replied that he’d like to see one console used as a standard for playing games.
“I’d like there to be only one platform.” Howard told PSM3 (via CVG). “It’s a lot of work to make the games look good on every platform you’re on,”
“I often equate it to DVD or Blu-rays. Once I’ve bought a DVD I can use it in my TV, in my computer, in my car, here, whatever. And I think it would be good for gaming if it was like that,” he added.
This is a drum Dennis Dyack has been banging for some time. According to the Silicon Knight’s founder, a single platform future is ‘inevitable’. “In order for us to get into a cycle similar to films and movies we have to go to a universal media where this is what plays your video game,” Dyack said at Develop in 2009.
Howard isn’t as staunch a believer as Dyack, however, and realises there are problems with the idea.
“They spend billions of dollars selling consoles at a loss for years, but then make the money back with games,” he said. “It’s not like the industry is hurting, we’re doing really well. But if I had one wish, you know, we would have better games for a single platform.”
A single console future does seem hard to imagine right now, but considering how much the industry has changed since games were delivered on cassette tapes and floppy disks, anything is possible. Do you think we’ll ever seen a single unified console? Perhaps in the shape of a streaming service like OnLive?
About the Author
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
- Genre(s): Action, RPG
