That's very true. A lot of my wife's and my gaming nowadays consist of watching Netflix while plugging away at some mobile game or Steam sale indie on my laptop. That just wasn't there in the ps2 era. Pulling out won't happen any time soon though, but less console game time and fewer game purchases have already happened.

I wonder where the decline is coming from or if it's even accross the board. If there is a real decline. The Wii hype and to a lessser extent Kinect brought in a lot of people that are not catered too at all in this gen. Perhaps PSVR has the potential to generate a boost. Now if NX was a phone too it might turn the tables completely.

Well, obviously that plays a role in all this, but what you are pointing out isbmore of a conveninence or natural step than a beneficial decision. This isnt the first time we are seeing revised skus in the industry, thisis the first time that we are seeing revised hardware that is significantly more powerful but yet in the same generation.

Make no mistake, this isn't because AMD has better chips now and about the constantly evolving tech scape, this is because they do not want to let go of their existing install bases... ever. If the new hardware doesn't replace the old one, and games can still be played across SKUs, what reason does anyone have to leave one console and their entire existing library and jump to another console? Why do you think MS is all of a sudden such a big fan of online cross play between Xbox and PS4 even tho they were fully against it in the past? 

I don't know, both the PS4 and the XB1 have sold better than any PlayStation or Xbox console ever made respectively in the two and a half years they have been on the market. While still at a price point average higher than every previous generation with exception to the 7th gen. In all honesty, there is simply more pointing in the direction that these consoles are doing very well and will at least do as well as or better than the 6th gen than there are supplying what you have written here in your post. 

And I don't think you are really following what I'm saying. Total collapse of the handheld market? And so what? what does that matter if the total revenue made from the gaming industry is up overall. What that tells you is that what used to be the handheld market just moved to somewhere else (aka mobile). It's like saying the movie industry is doomed because no one wants to buy DVDs anymore and instead stream from Netflix but then ignore than the movie industry is making more money than ever before. 

If the handheld market is "collapsing", and more and more people seem to be playing on mobile phones and tablets...... then maybe, just maybe... it's time for Nintendo to start releasing their games on Android and iOS. Maybe just maybe, what that means is that a tablet or smartphone is an all round better mobile gaming platform than a dedicated mobile gaming platform. Or at least as far as people are concerned. 

Oh boy... Gaming was a hobby for a specific group back in the early days before the 6th gen, but nowadays that couldn't be farther from the truth. The Wii was one of those things that really paved the way for expanding that gap. We had people of all ages playing games, including people who never played games. It got people together to just have a good time. That was the point of the Wii, and yeah, that did pretty dang well. Heck, the DS did the same thing with having games like brain age, animal crossing and Nintendogs. It got people from all ages enjoying games. People young and old are still playing Animal Crossing.

I don't really see how Ninten is any more exclusive than any other company. They make games, consoles, and... that's about it. I don't see the damage they're doing.

I didn't say DLC was a necessarily a bad thing. DLC in itself is a great concept. It adds more to your game and keeps you playing longer, though we've seen how DLC can be corrupted many times in the industry, and it should not be a key point to get more money out of people. And I know Ninten has gone on it too, as I've bought some of their dlc, which some have been bad, and some... pretty good, sometimes even free. You don't even have to put a price tag on it. Just... give it for free sometimes.

Though all of that really is besides the point. You say that gaming is becoming more focused, but it sounds like it's the exact opposide. It's more open than it's ever been, and you're saying certain practices should be a way to make it more focused? It sounds like closing off a big market to a small group in the most terrible way, and why you would want to do that, well, I'm not so sure...

And Nintendo is expanding as well. We're seeing them put some games on mobile, which now seems like not such a bad idea...

Also, zorg1000 got the point of my comment ~

Maybe you have completely missed the point.

Lets start with the thread title. I said consoles are becomig more focused. 

In my supporting posts I have gone on to say gaming is more open than ever before.

Both things aren't mutually exclusive.

Because of how open gaming has become in general, console gaming has in turn become more focused.

Some look at this focus as a contraction, when in truth its just that it's become more fine tuned to its exact specific demographic and audience. But said audience are not just buying games but are also paying for services and buying dlc and what not. 

you and others look at sony's and MS laser focus on a specific type of gamer as a bad thing, whereas its just them investing more in their best kind of customer. 

look at the wii, some of you say that nintendo did good by making some people that would never have been into gaming get into it. Yes they did, but now smartphones, tablets and facebook do that better than Nintendo. Getting people that would have otherwise not been into gaming into it. Those people don't need a console to play their kinda games. Those people aren't interested in the witcher 3 or even COD. They have all the game they need and want on their phone...etc. 

That's not a bad thing. that just means that that is not the kinda person consoles are made for. It never had been, but then  (since up to 2006-2010)those people didn't really have a choice. now they do. 

I think its a ridiculously flawed perspective to look at the industry and just think that morr is always better or that eveeyone playing games should somehow play on consoles. Im not saying this as a cop out that the PS4 will not do PS2 numbers. But that its better for the console business when they know that the 100M people that buy a console are also willing to buy at least 3-4 games a year, pay for dlc and or pay for a service or two. As opposed to more than half of that number just buying a box for just one or two games over a period of 5yrs.

More people than ever before are playing games, consoles are doing better than they have ever been before even though with a smaller userbase. And like I said before,

If the 6th gen had 250M console sales with $30B in software profits, and the 8th gen has 150M-200M console sales with $60B in software (and services) profits. Would you call that a contraction or an expansion? If as a result the overall industry is making more money where is the bad in that? 

And lastly, just to clear something up. The PS4 doesn't have to sell better than the PS2. but it will, why? Cause as far as Sony is concerned and the bottom line is concerned, the PS4 is really a PS4 +PS4neo+ PS5. All those consoles will play or be compatible with the same games. In truth, we should start coming around to the idea of a new way to define consoles. Maybe this generation of Sony consoles should be called the Orbis platform. And not just a PS4. 

"Becoming more focused" is just PR speak for contraction, i.e shrinkage. You can spin it all you like, but this gen isn't going to come close to the previous two gens in terms of userbase, and what this has and will lead to is companies milking their remaining users for all they can get, with services, dlc, and digital games.

No, I get the point. I just don't agree with it, and sorry to say, but feel it's a terrible way to go. The way you phrase it sounds like games was always an exclusive club, targeting on a certain audience, which back then that view was frowned upon by the general audience, and going back to that is just bad. Gaming should not just focus on certain audiences, but continue expanding out to every audience possible. It wouldn't be great for the market. And not focusing on them just because they also play on other devices sounds like companies are just giving up rather than focusing on other groups. Companies should continue trying to expand, and not try to make profit from other practices like dlc, mid upgrade consoles and paid online services. That's just dentrimental to the general consumer. And it's hard to say the console space is doing well when it it's really just Sony doing well.

The market is simply geared towards early adoption. Look at how cheap the PS4 and XB1 is relative to their lifecycle, it wasn't something normal during the 7th gen. We see huge bundles desperately trying to get people to buy, and we already have seen the successors to both consoles, the PS4Neo and the Xbox Scorpio. Both consoles will have far less of a lifespan, thus lower sales. And the handheld market is part of the console market too, and during the 7th gen we saw the DS NEARLY surpass the PS2, and even the PSP did a respectibile 80 million. Both the 3DS and PSV combined won't be able to surprass just what the latter did during the 7th gen (pretty bad, considering it was a new entry to the market). I'd understand the loss of some casuals here, but we've seen a huge chunck of the market simply torn apart in a relatively short amount of time.

Care to explain? Sure it won't match last gen, but that was bloated by casuals who have never gamed before.  However, I don't really see it having any problems matching Gen 6.

We have a PS4 still outpacing the PS2, even with the numbers game favoring the PS2, since Sony was reporting shipments to their warehouses, not shipments to retailers.  And this is without it hitting $299, let alone $199, or the Slim and Neo SKUs out.  We have a XBO that won't match 360, but is definitely going to outpace the OG Xbox, maybe even by 2x.  The Wii U is falling behind the GameCube, but if it can drop to $199 relatively shortly, I'm sure it could at least match it.  When all is said and done, I wouldn't doubt this Gen will either come damn close to matching Gen 6, or possibly outdo it by a few 10s of millions.

I don't think so. That would make it relatively close to the 7th gen. The Wii U has practically free-falled into nothing, and the XB1 will probably barely scrape past 1/2 of the Xbox 360. The PS4 will probably outsell the PS3 a bit, but I don't see it surpassing 110 million, which for Playstation consoles is normal. That would mean we'd miss the 6th gen numbers (around 200 million) by around 30-40 million consoles.

I'd put it this way: Console gaming is moving upmarket. This is neither good nor bad, but it has a few consequences:
- Smaller number of total customers
- Higher profit on a per customer basis (because upmarket users are willing to pay premium prices)
- Higher profits in the short term for incumbent companies
- Overshooting (gaming is becoming too expensive / complicated for certain market segments)
- A higher risk of being disrupted in the future ( = another Wii generation in which a "bad" console sells lots of units and Sony / Microsoft lose a lot of money, or disruption by tablets and smartphones)

This has positive and negative sides, so I wouldn't want to judge if it's good or bad. It's just the way it is and it's the direction most established markets go.