Apart from a few hardcore forummers nobody gives three bits about backwards compatibility. People don’t buy PS5 or XboxTwo so they can play Fifa 2016, they buy it so they can play Fifa 2019 or whatever.
The poll in this thread disagrees with you. Is the poll representative of all consumers? Who knows. Do you have better data to work with? The reception to Microsoft bringing 360 compatibility to Xbox One seems only positive and wasn't this overwhelming voted by Xbox One owners? Hmmm.
It's an old discussion for sure but I think the way people think about software obsolescence is changing, probably in part brought about everybody having a smart phone where your software works on your new device. I think people are now looking at their console as the odd man out. Opinions and values change.
I wouldn't disagree that the need for backwards compatibility is more important towards the start of each new console hardware cycle because your new console's library is going to be very limited. But this will add a purchasing decision dilemma for many people. People who play multiplayer games with friends are likely going to want t continue playing those games with those friends and it may not be practical (depending on how much other gear you have in your AV centre) or financially viable (if you need sell your current console to buy your new one).
The Wii sold 100 million units after the rather dismal GC with full BC. The Wii U isn’t selling at all despite having BC with the Wii.
Perhaps because it's game library isn't great? New hardware still has to stand on it's own in terms of software justifying that hardware purchase.
Xbox360 sold well despite having no BC and PS3 flopped despite initially having BC because it was too expensive and didn’t start selling until they ripped out whatever they could to get the price down.
Xbox 360 sold well because it was a good solid console and
Microsoft did make an effort to make quite a few of the popular games on Xbox compatible. PS3 sold badly initially because it was insanely priced and the early cross-platform games were poor compared to their counterparts on the Xbox 360. There were few compelling reasons to buy a PS3 in the first 12-18 months.
I see don't backward compatibility being a magic pill (its inclusion making a bad console desirable) or a poison pill (its exclusion making a good console undesirable). That's ludicrous.
Yes it’s not the most consumer friendly practices but this is a business that relies on people buying new software, not sticking with their old software on a new box.
People will buy new software, people will want to buy new software that shows off that new hardware.
The smartphone market has different dynamics than the console market and therefore I don’t think you can really compare the two.
And many dynamics are the same. Many people now have smartphones and are now used to a piece of hardware where their old software still works. Other than perceived consumer loyalty lock-in, I think console backwards compatibility was actually less relevant a few generatioms back (PS1 to PS2, PS2 to PS3) because they represented huge leaps in technology. I doubt many original PS owners were playing their original PS games as much once they'd become accustomed to PS2 because the old games look like arse. Ditto PS2 to PS3. We're were getting visually striking new technology. Tech is still getting better but marginally so.
Put PS1 and PS2 games 5m away and you can pick them apart easily. The same with PS2 and PS3. PS3 and PS4? Now that's much harder. If your old games aren't looking so dated, you're more likely to play them and this is probably why so many PC game mods focus on improving visuals for more powerful hardware.
The other thing we have now which we didn't before is connected game communities where you play with other people. If you care about who you play games with, which console to buy and when becomes a lot more complicated. Particularly if you don't have room, or can't afford, to own two console generations at the sometime.
