Following the success of the videogame market, there were (and still are) many who developed small electronic game devices that host a variety of simple games that one could walk into a store and buy for a cheap price. The games on these devices paled in comparison to those of consoles, but they obviously still saw some success at retail, otherwise they would have vanished from store shelves some time ago.
Why do I bring this up? Because if a recent statement made by Activision CEO Robert Kotick is true, then Activision games may follow the way in which those games are played: No console required to play.
The quote in question mentioned plans for a "untethered Guitar Hero," and said to expect many of their "products to be playable independent of a console."
In other words, you'll no longer require a console to play games, specifically ones by Activision. And instead, I suspect, will simply have to pug something (possibly the peripheral) into your television to play, much like how similar peripheral based devices have done.
And for that reason, I can see this being beneficial in some ways. The Guitar Hero franchise is quite popular, and this could get it into the hands of more people, which in turn, brings in more money for Activision. And as with any company, that's reason enough to bring this concept to fruition.
Though I have to wonder how the console makers would feel about this... As this would steal potential sales from them, and I can't imagine that they'd be pleased with that.
Still, the idea has some potential. Though I would suggest not taking this as truth just yet, as comments like these have been made in the past and never reach fruition. But I must admit, it sounds like a probable move from Activision. I mean, they've pretty much made it clear that they'll do anything to make as much money as possible, and since this could help them with that, I can easily see this happening. I mean, it's not like anyone's going to stop them, right?
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As the third, that seems very unlikely due to how Activision makes most of its money of it's multiplatform games (in other words, all of them). Of course, that doesn't mean there isn't something they could do about that. Though what that something is, however, I do not know.
Still, if this does happen, it'll be interesting to see how it'll work out for them considering the risks involved and all.
@hank_101 -- It's just like any other business move: Either it'll pay off, or it won't. We won't know till they try.
Those two things are enough to make any publishers reluctant towards making a console, hence why Activision hasn't done so.
Samson089
1) Activition releases every game from now on with Independant game devices and make lots of money.
2) Same as 1 except they don't make lots of money because no one wants the games that make them have more plastic sitting around their basement. 3) One of the big 3 console manufacturers buy up Activition and/or their top selling IP's to prevent them from dropping all consoles.