Console business here to stay, says Sony CEO

January 9, 2013 10:50AM PST

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Kaz Hirai says market for home-based systems and dedicated portable gaming devices not going away anytime soon.

The home console and game-specific portable markets are here to stay. That's according to Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, who told The Verge in a new interview from the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show that Sony is keen to continue investing in both markets, despite what the naysayers may be predicting.

 

"I think that based on the consumer feedback that we've been getting, there is certainly a very large segment of the video game market that is interested in playing immersive games on a game-specific device, as opposed to playing casual games on smartphones," Hirai said of the PlayStation Vita. "There is certainly a market for that as well, but again, there's that market where the physical buttons and the controls are very important for that intuitive and intricate gameplay control."

Of the home console business, Hirai was similarly enthusiastic. "Between that and also the home-based consoles as well, those aren't going to go away anytime soon," he said.

The PS Vita has sold more than 2.2 million units since launch 11 months ago, while the PlayStation 3 has shifted over 70 million systems since 2006. Looking ahead, the rumor mill has been busy with speculation about the PlayStation 4, with analysts expecting it to arrive--alongside the next Xbox--during the second half of this year.

I don't see anyone with a brain that doubted this Sony but ok.

You'd be surprised how many thing otherwise.

He seems to be talking about portable consoles, not home consoles.

The person predicting the end of consoles in the article is David Jaffe. The same dude who oversaw 2012's Twisted Metal, a buggy, broken, rushed to release product that launched $30 too expensive and then got virtually no post-release support. It just boggles my mind how that asshat can release a game like that, and then only a few months later do some interview where he predicts the end of home console gaming. Well you know what might help home consoles stay around? Idiots like him not making any more home console games.

/rant

If by "portables" he means "smartphones and tablets", then I agree.

What a shocker! O_o

o well looks like i'll be buying more home consoles for at least 3 more gen.'s

i disagree.  while there are many niche markets that can do well enough video games aren't one of them.  there is a delicate ecosystem between the number of consumers, the number of developers, the number of games, and the number of game sales.  too few of any and the ecosystem collapses.  there will be no place for dedicated handheld gaming devices in the future.

I'm pretty sure there will be. It may become smaller, but it won't vanish. I'd really like not to mention Nintendo in this post, but there's no way around it: They have established a userbase of I'd say around 30-50Mil DEDICATED (of course I can only guess this number, but even the GBA as their weakest selling handheld sold 80Mil) buyers of their handhelds and 2x as much POTENTIAL buyers. As long as Nintendo makes profit off handhelds the market won't die. Simple as that.