if by consoles you mean closed propretiery hardware ala wii/ps3/360. yes, i think the end is coming.
Not in the traditional sense, says outspoken gaming analyst Michael Pachter. “Gaming will move to the cloud,” he told FoxNews.com this week. And that’s a body blow for console makers, who make money on not only their own games, but hardware sales and licensing fees.
To further complicate the issue, consumers are already warming to the idea of not owning their games, production consultant Keith Fuller told FoxNews.com. “Every time someone uses Gmail, Netflix Instant, or Amazon’s Cloud Player, they’re already buying into the concept of using a service without physically owning or installing something.”
it will take a while but i more or less agree with this. gaming will become more of a service than a product. the issues of piracy, the used games market, and platform agnostics will motitvate developers to go in this direction. i think consumers will follow due to a more favorable cost structure and better access to more games.
but eh, just my opinion on the future.
