The Consoles Are Dying, Says Developer [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

hypnosec writes "While you might have often heard that PC gaming is dying — detractors have been claiming this for over a decade — one developer has a different take: that consoles are the ones on the way out. In a 26-minute presentation at GDC — available now as a slideshow with a voice-over — Ben Cousins, who heads mobile/tablet game maker ngmoco, uses statistics of electronic and gaming purchases, along with market shares of developers and publishers from just a few years ago, to come to some surprising conclusions. The old guard, including the three big console manufacturers — Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft — are losing out when compared with the new generation of gaming platform developers: Facebook, Apple and Google. With the new companies, the size of the audience is vastly increased because of their focus on tablets, mobile and browser-based gaming."

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[DOAsaturn]

Hmm, and this Ben Cousins doesn't have an agenda here...

This is all folderal. Consoles will never die - as there will always be some demand. Now - it could get to the point where we try the Nuon or CD-i route again and get dedicated console manufactured by different companies. We may even cease having physical copies of games (which would suck, but yeah). But if we go to purely tablet/phone gaming we're taking a step back from the direction of realism and immersion in gaming. The controls and general depth of tablet games are nowhere close to console games.

And to be honest, while a great majority of regular people love there flash games, console gamers still love console games. I mean, seriously, have console gamers lost many of their own to the iPhone phenomenon? And I mean to the point where they stop buying new consoles and games? I don't think so...

[kedawa]

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[Gamevet]

I've bought 1 game for my iphone (Angry Birds) and downloaded a couple of free games. Yeah, they're okay when I'm sitting around waiting on someone, but I usually just browse the internet using my phone instead.

Let the casuals have their flash games, I'll still buy my games on hardware that was designed with gaming in mind first.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The responses to Ben Cousins' presentation from the hardcore console gaming sect have been pretty aggressively argumentative, which is to be expected, but any divisive or subjective data presented in his slideshow aside, the presentation is not without some merit, if nothing else as a cautionary tale.

What I find particularly interesting is that most detractors of the presentation seem to believe/indicate that he states that consoles will at some point in the near future completely cease to exist.

He doesn't state that, in fact, he even opens his presentation with the full explanation that "death" does not equate to obsolescence. You can still buy a typewriter, you can still buy a horse-drawn carriage, you can still buy a volume of encyclopedias.

He actually illustrates that they will instead diminish in widespread/mass appeal as the prevalent home entertainment/gaming platform and instead become niche/specialty hardware in favor of alternative hardware (ie tablets) that can deliver the same media experience.

Even if you come away disagreeing with his position, it is absolutely worth 20 minutes of your time to watch. There are some very interesting statistics and parallels that you may not have given any thought to.

The concept of disruptive technology/disruptive innovation is fascinating.

[Kitsune Sniper]

As long as consoles can do something else - Netflix, movies, etc. - they'll stay around.

[DOAsaturn]

He actually illustrates that they will instead diminish in widespread/mass appeal as the prevalent home entertainment/gaming platform and instead become niche/specialty hardware in favor of alternative hardware (ie tablets) that can deliver the same media experience.

This is where I completely disagree with this view - it doesn't deliver the same experience. Whether that experience is better or worse than what a traditional gaming console is up to the user themselves. I understand the new boom of casual gamers and the $$$ they bring to the table, I don't understand that people seem to equate that style of gaming with the console style of gaming. It's so unbelievably different...

[Gameguy]

He actually illustrates that they will instead diminish in widespread/mass appeal as the prevalent home entertainment/gaming platform and instead become niche/specialty hardware in favor of alternative hardware (ie tablets) that can deliver the same media experience.

I can't imagine that companies will still be making consoles at all if they become niche type items, what developers would program for them when you know ahead of time that there's a very small audience buying them. It's not like they're open platform for homebrew developers. Most of these console companies focus on a wide variety of electronics, if consoles aren't big sellers they'll move onto other things.