I'll accept the answer when there is evidence of this. I've not seen anything to suggest that a significant body of console gamers will pay more for better performance. Evidence suggests that at most, PS4 Pro/One X, About a quarter will. If there is evidence that demonstrates that consumers will pay for performance when those gains are significant - even when performance is not a priority for them - then I would really like to see it.
If you can't see reason, you'll just have to wait until the consoles launch. What are you expecting sales of XBSX to be without any next-gen exclusives? Zero?
I don't believe the buying habits of PC owners gamers equate to the buying habits of console gamers.
It's not the buying habits of PC gamers but the buying habits of
consumers.
It's the buying habits of people who have a TV that works fine who then go buy a new TV to experience
exactly the same content only a bit better. They don't need it to watch content exclusive to newer TVs.
It's the buying habits of people who have a GPU that works fine who then go buy a new GPU to experience
exactly the same content only a bit better. They don't need it to play games exclusive to newer GPUs.
It's the buying habits of people who have a car that works fine who then go buy a new car to drive to
exactly the same places only a bit better. They don't need a new car to access places restricted to new-car owners.
It's the buying habits of people who have a computer that works connecting to the internet and printing out Word documents who then go buy a new computer to do
exactly the same things only a bit faster. Word and the Internet don't exclude them because they're computer is old.
It's the buying habits of people who have a tape player HIFI system and music tapes that work fine who then go buy a CD player and the same library on CD to experience
exactly the same music only a bit better. They didn't need a CD to hear the latest music because all the latest music released on both old-gen and next-gen music formats simultaneously. The music companies didn't stick all music on CD exclusively in order to force people to transition on from tapes. People moved on their own accord because the experience was better.
In all these cases, consumers don't need a particular new opportunity to be enabled by a purchase; they just want the improvement over their current solution to be good value for them. Tapes to CDs was a huge improvement so everyone wanted to transition, and they transitioned when the pricing came down to what they valued the improved quality at. SACD flunked because the improvement wasn't good enough for most consumers at any price. The mid-gen consoles are akin to CD -> SACD whereas a next-gen console is akin to tapes -> CD in improvement, or SDTV -> HDTV. The mid-gen refreshes aren't any indicator at all about how gamers feel about a next-gen platform.
If yje server can accommodate a fast change in position for the player but the local client cannot because loading is slow, then that's a mechanic the server can't use. Online games have had to manage this for decades and even games with relatively basic environments, like World of Warcraft, struggle with loading on the local client on anything except a pretty-well specced PC with SSD. Even then, you're also bound by your internet bandwidth. No point being able to load the world fast, if you can't download the data to know what needs to be loaded.
Okay, instant fast travel will be determined by local speed, although that's not something particular to multiplayer games. It's a bit of a reach as a game-changer.
