I have seen the Future, and your console isn't in it!!!

[Landguy]

Shadow1980 said:

The idea that mobile/tablet gaming is competing with console & PC gaming is just asinine. It's like arguing that bicycle manufacturers are competing directly with automobile manufacturers, or that TV is directly competing with the feature film industry. Video didn't kill the radio star, the small screen didn't kill the big screen, and mobile gaming isn't killing console gaming. The pricing, business models, revenue generation, development, and the consumer's reasons for buying are all different, and the two fill different roles. Phones & tablets will always have limitations that keep them from offering the same kinds of experiences that consoles offer, just like how network & cable TV cannot offer experiences like the movie theater does.

Besides, people aren't exactly ditching Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Mario, and so forth to exclusively play Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Plants vs. Zombies, and so forth on their smartphones. Those games are piddling little distractions. They're to AAA games like what Syfy original movies are to The Avengers and Avatar. Everybody knowns about Angry Birds, but everybody knows about Sharknado, too. They generate a lot of revenue because over half the country has a smartphone these days and these games only cost a buck or two, so it's not a big deal when 150 million Americans plunk down $2 every few weeks for something to play when they're sitting in a waiting room or in a fast food joint or on a bus or train. According to a recent NPD report, video game software sales in America totaled $14.8 billion in 2012. Of that total, $5.92 billion came from digitally distributed content, including mobile games, DLC, and miscellaneous other content. So, most non-hardware spending on video games is still for non-digital content, and of the digital content sales, not all of that was mobile games, and that's in a year where we're transitioning between generations, which is when console hardware & software sales are always at their nadir. Yes, sales are down, but they're always down at this part in the cycle, and even at the current nadir sales are still bigger than they were in all but two years prior to the beginning of the seventh generation.

10 years ago, I would have agreed with your comment.  Today, I don't.  Smartphones and tablets were a joke just 5 years ago.  Couldn't do internet, tv, movies, or games for shit on them.  Now, I can buy a tablet today that is more powerful than either the PS4 or XB1 and hook it up to a tv via wifi.  I can add a blutooth controller to it and I have a more powerful gaming system than either of the next gen twins.  This is very expensive to do and the games library will only include ANY PC game available through steam or Origin or whatever emeulators that allow me to play the older gen games.  But, as the prices for these types of units come down as they always do, this will change.  THe tech industry has already acknowledged that the future of things will be on a tablet or smartphone.  It is more practical for it to be on a tablet, as that will allow for more powerful systems.  But someday that will no longer be needed either.  Quoting sales number for previous generations when there is a technology and massive environment change happening won't really apply.  I am not saying both of the next gen consoles won't sell.  I am just saying they will be the last, especially if they plan to last 10 years.