Dr.Henry_Killinger said:
The issue is that I can't comprehend how the handheld audience could grow let alone even stably persist. Mobile is absorbing the new gamers that would a decade ago replaced those that left. Handheld itself is becoming more Niche as it is essentially just Nintendo left. And the outer pressure of Mobile's software and hardware development cycle will put intense pressure on Nintendo, who will likely return focus to Japan, further shrinking it. I mean its basically gotten to the point, where Nintendo is the only reason for a Handheld device at this point. I personally don't think they can support the entire market by themselves. |
Who said it would grow? And it's not hard for it to stably persist. There's an audience for everything. Laptops didn't replace computers and tablets didn't replace laptops.
You also have to realize the audience for handhelds and the audience for smartphones are different audiences. It does cut into the market share but it won't kill it. Those who want higher quality games will buy a 3DS or Vita over a $0.99 app.
As it stands there's more than enough room for a handheld. As time goes on though and smartphones get better developers and memory space increases, the need for handhelds may shrink. But that's a little while down the road from here. Sony might give it one more shot later on with a Vita successor, but I'm afraid they don't really have much affect on handhelds. Nintendo's next handheld will tell us how long the handheld market will last. If they give us another unneeded addition to the DS family, we probably won't see dedicated handhelds in the next decade. If it's something new like the Gameboy and original DS were, then it could last longer. Right now it is too early to tell how handhelds will persist past the 3DS, until we get an idea of what the next Nintendo handheld will be these sort of threads are a bit premature.
