ptdebate wrote:VideoGameCritic wrote:A larger question is, does mobile gaming pose a threat to the livelihood of the console market? I vote no.
I agree. They're totally separate markets. There will always be a stable group of consumers who want to sit in front of their TV and play games with a controller rather than on a small touch screen. The latter offers portability but closes off too many gameplay possibilities to be a replacement for the former.
Yes and No. First, I agree they are different markets. The story of video games has been one of growth, as more people are playing them than ever so its not a zero sum game. Consoles are better at some forms of video games while mobile better or at least also good at others.
The markets are not independent however. We have seen the console market become focused on expensive AAA gaming, while mobile explores what can be done with low entry cost gaming, including porting over older and not so old console games.
Companies and talent will shift to mobile as new growth territory, or richer territory. Mobile gaming, while limited, will improve. Mobile devices that facilitate gaming will be developed, just as we have seen the shift to larger screens. Some games for consoles will be built with a mobile port in mind, which might increase things like QTEs which can be customized by platform.
We also have seen in music that quality loses to quantity, price and mobility as people went to compressed digital music on tinny but tiny ipods over richer sounds of analog on a giant expensive home system. Just as we lost music stores, physical game stores will also be threatened by mobile marketplaces, and the general acceptance of downloaded games. With music, who would turn back the dial 15 years? Yet the gains have come at some loss. Being an audiophile used to be popular, but they are a niche now.
Another analogy are to movies and tv (and to a lesser extent, radio and live theater). Movies competed with tv in the 50s and 60s, when tvs were small, black and white, with often poor reception and just one in a house, with gimmicks like 3D, better graphics with Panaramascope stuff, and going for massive big budget Epic big scope productions. Sound familiar?
So, mobile gaming is growing the population of gamers and consoles will be fine as far as their existence not being in jeopardy, but what games are on consoles, how we buy them, how they monetize our gaming habits, etc will be influenced by mobile gaming.