We are entering an era where two forces battle for the household, the media hub and the console.
Media hubs will have Apple, Amazon, and (if rumors are true) Nintendo fighting for attention. Apple will be using their iOS, Amazon will either stick with Fire or Android, and rumor has it the next Nintendo console will be android based, and my assumption is the NX will be a media hub/console mix.
The console space is more competitive, but that's because it's been longer established. Nintendo will still have a presence due to their first party legacy, but Sony and Microsoft will be the two goliaths in this arena. The Steam Machine has massive potential to shake things up, although that impact has yet to strike.
Media hubs and consoles want the same thing, and in fact, consoles have wanted the living room for a long time, dating back to Sony's PlayStation 3 reveal. Back when Sony was prepping the PlayStation 3, they wanted it to be an all-in-one media machine. It would be a Blu-Ray player, and a gaming console, and stream machine, where consumers can buy movies, and television, and music, and so on and so forth. Sony fumbled hard, and because of that fumble we had the return to form that is the PlayStation 4, a game console first, a media machine second.
That's what made the Xbox 360 so successful. It brought consumers in with games, and then they can play with the added functionality. Somewhere along the way, Microsoft switched places with Sony a generation before, and they tried their own media machine first, video game console second approach with the Xbox One. It's in the name; the one stands for all-in-one, and consumers have rejected it.
What media hubs are doing differently is giving consumers functionality first at an affordable price, unlike the PlayStation 3 at $600 United States dollars, or a PS4 or X1 at $400 right now.
The world is cord cutting. The age of Netflix and the cloud is upon us. With this new demand, a new market has opened up in a big way, media hubs and sticks. Consumers cut costs on services they hardly use or need anymore. What was just a humble market to get Netflix and Hulu to a television without cable, is transforming to integration with all media, and the Apple TV wants to be the biggest company to do so.
The idea is simple enough, and hopefully is what's powering the thinking behind the Nintendo NX. A machine that can be upgraded regularly, while keeping full backwards compatibility with apps.
Consoles will be between a rock and a hard place. If they try to go after the all-in-one box again, they're price, specs and control scheme will turn off casual users. Once that happens, the Steam Machine will gain console market share. If consoles choose to ignore media hubs, then they'll always play second fiddle in the living room.
Apple, Amazon, and Google want to win the household, and truth be told, they have the architecture to make it happen. Apple is going into the game market and soon the original programming market for videos. Amazon bought Twitch and is creating it's own stable of games in complete secrecy. Google recently launched YouTube Gaming, showing they have a clear interest in entering the market.
It'll be interesting to see what a combination of the PS3 media goals and Wii casual audience attraction will bring.
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