Peter Vesterbacka, CEO of Rovio Mobile and creator of the popular mobile game Angry Birds announced his opinion about the future of console games on a panel at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin. Vesterbacka claims traditional console games are much too expensive at $40 or $50 per game. He also said console developers are not as "nimble" as mobile developers due to the time it takes to develop and release new content.
All this combined with how difficult it is to upgrade console games led Vesterbacka to announce that console games are dying. Nokia's Tero Ojanpera was on the panel as well and refuted Vesterbacka’s comment, stating that there's still a place for consoles because gamers aren't going to plug tablet devices into their televisions.
Vesterbacka acknowledged the fact that regarding the business model for mobile gaming "no one has figured it out yet" but clearly there is a business opportunity. No one can deny Angry Birds is popular with one hundred million downloads, or that it isn't a cash cow, but can games like Angry Birds really stomp out console gaming? Vesterbacka thinks so, saying he's tired of the phrase "casual games" when referring to mobile gaming and that an Angry Birds player can be just as addicted and involved as any other gamer, even going so far as to mention times when he has seen devices thrown across the room in frustration.
Who knew that all you needed to officially clear a game of being casual is the ability to irritate your players? Indeed, if that is all that makes a game a game, the console industry had better watch out.
Source: VentureBeat
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Wow this is ludicrous, this guy can't be serious.
Vesterbacka claims traditional console games are much too expensive at $40 or $50 per game.
Compared to what, a simple measily mobile game? Which hardly has any content and even less value.
He also said console developers are not as "nimble" as mobile developers due to the time it takes to develop and release new content.
Well no crap, the extra content for mobile games fails in comparision to the amount for console games. Plus companies don't want to release extra content asap as gamers feel ripped off because the companies could have added the content in the original game.
Anyways, console games aren't going anywhere. This guy is way over his head.
