14 DAY TRIAL // Epic Games, the studio behind quality franchises like Unreal or Gears of War, as well as of the extremely successful Unreal Engine technology, has once again expressed its views on the next generation of consoles, the so-called PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720, and how they don't just need to be powerful, but also deliver a more open environment for developers, much like Valve is doing with Steam on the PC.
Current generation devices, like the PS3 or Xbox 360, are here to stay, if we're to believe their creators, Sony and Microsoft, but rumors and reports of next generation devices have piled up in recent months.
Epic Games has once again expressed its views on what new consoles should bring, with its president, Mike Capps, talking with Develop about these future devices.
While the next wave of consoles need to more powerful, so that players can realize it's worth investing in them, manufacturers like Sony or Microsoft also need to allow developers more freedom on their platforms.
"I think another thing that’s changed is the way people are willing to spend their money. Consoles need to adapt to this. Game revenue has moved to the service model and the microtransactions model. Consoles need to start being comfortable with that. They need to be able to do something where small virtual items can be sold and bought for 20¢ without a long certification process and a price approval process," he said.
"Right now we’re not even allowed to change the prices of virtual content. We’re not even allowed to set the prices. I just don’t think this protectionist approach is going to be successful in a world where the price of virtual items changes on a day-today basis."
Steam has become notorious for running daily sales, massive holiday events and generally allowing developers quite a lot of freedom with their content. Capps believes that this strategy would certainly get more developers, like those of smaller titles, to embrace consoles as well as the PC.
"Double-A games will never come back unless we get rid of this notion of a game being $60 or not released. The console manufacturers need to let this happen. The best way of driving developers to PC is telling them they have no freedom in what prices they can set for virtual items. It would be great to have the level of freedom that, say, Steam gives you."
This is easier said than done, however, as Microsoft is now infamous among smaller developers for its harsh publishing stance, which even drew some criticism from Sony itself.