The natural course of human development is to progress through levels of society, which tends to result in higher levels of emphasis on work and less on leisure activities such as gaming. We've seen the beginning of this through the growth of smartphone gaming; people are spending more time commuting and they need something to keep them occupied on journeys.

As more of society embraces the idea of commuting and working long hours, there may not be much point in playing home consoles in the future. We may find ourselves in a situation where we have to work large amounts outside of office hours merely to hold down a job (some people have to do this already). Not to mention, the increase in urban population means that there are more people living in flats who likely don't have the room to hold a decent sized TV and a bunch of games and consoles.

"Think of the children!” I hear people cry. Gaming has been a powerful force of entertainment for younger people for many years now, but it's probably not long until we see something else replace this - what could that be? I have no idea, but I feel that it's time for the natural progression of technology to make its movement into something more modern. After all, what are video games? Merely machines that can make us feel engrossed in something and make us feel enjoyment. Why not create something that can replicate those feelings in a more practical way?

The living costs in cities are rising rapidly with the increase of prices of food and fuel among other things. If people find themselves in a situation where they can’t afford to game, obviously the market is going to decline. Of course, there are people living in this situation already; but the current economic situation could lead to this number dramatically rising.

And that leads onto the final point. Is humanity itself doomed to fail sometime in the near future? The troubles in Africa, the rioting in the UK and more recently the anti-Wall Street protesters in the US indicate that the world could be reaching a crisis point. The economy could reach a tipping point, and then an effectively Armageddon-like situation could occur. Where would video games fit in then? They wouldn’t.

All in all, enjoy your video games, but remember that they won’t be much use in a world of despair and ruin.

Don't think so. For some reason, I believe gaming is getting stronger than ever.

Only Nintendo and 3DS are doomed >:(

Not doomed, humanity is just used to see an increase in better living standards while it progress through his history. 'In our time we would we be happy if we had' is an common example of parents telling their children that they have it so much better now then when they were children. Humanity especially the Western World just have to accept that in the next years and decennia it POSSIBLE will go trough a time where the living standards will go down and parents had it better than their children and yes that will affect the gaming industry but that has nothing to with being doomed.

Everything is 'ultimately doomed' because of entropy!

On another note, if the world is totally f*cked up like you suggest gaming would be my last concern, lol.

I hope it does. I don't want my kids gaming. What a waste of time...

Read a book, play with a pet, be social, play sports...video games?...maybe few hours on Sunday tops.