14 DAY TRIAL // Despite its recent trouble associated with account security, Twitch is one of the most successful gaming-related services launched in the last few years, but its founder believes that some of the core elements of the ecosystem might entirely disappear in a few years.
Emmett Shear, a founder of the streaming site, believes that both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are the last of their kind and that classic launch cycles can no longer sustain dedicated home hardware.
According to Gamespot, during the Changing Media Summit in London, the executive stated, "The problem is, the seven-year upgrade lifecycle doesn't work in the face of the two-year upgrade cycles for every other hardware platform. It's so intrinsically built into how consoles get manufactured and made and the full business model, that I'd be surprised to see another generation."
Apparently, Shear believes that the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo should create something more similar to a set-top box, which can be used for a wider variety of purposes and does not depend so much on the included hardware. The upgrade path for the new devices should be made in a manner similar to that used for smartphones and tablets, he believes.
Despite predicting their obsolescence, Shear also says that the Twitch app for both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 has been a solid success and is used by a wide number of players every day.
Twitch needs to beef up its security
The streaming service has been the target of an attack recently, which resulted in a move to force all users to change their passwords and also meant that an undisclosed number of users had their accounts breached, with info like credit card data accessed by a yet undisclosed group.
Twitch says that it will take measures so that nothing similar happens in the future in order to make sure that it does not see a drop in terms of overall users or audience.
At the moment, both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One are selling better than their older counterparts, and both Sony and Microsoft could improve the number of consoles moved to gamers in the coming months via promotions and firmware updates.