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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Gamespot: Is handheld gaming doomed?

Euphoria14 on 16 February 2012
badgenome said:
Euphoria14 said:

I also find it odd to see a doom and gloom Vita from Gamespot after reading this yesterday.

http://www.gamespot.com/gravity-rush/previews/gravity-rush-import-hands-on-a-possible-killer-app-for-the-vita-6350127/

 

 

No biggy though, it is like 3DS all over again.

I find it odd that Gamestop thinks Gravity Rush could be a killer app when they already dubbed the Vita itself a literal killer app because it will make you smash your head against a brick wall by virtue of its not being a smartphone.


LOL, yeah that is right at the start of the Gravity Rush preview.

Gamespot is confused.



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Conegamer on 16 February 2012

"For comparison, last month's Trax Gamer Insights survey found that 13 percent of respondents planned to buy the Wii U, with 34 percent and 36 percent planning to buy the next-generation machines from Sony and Microsoft, respectively."

Huh. I wonder if they'll still be saying that when we actually SEE what Sony and Microsoft are planning. I doubt it somehow ;)

OT: If the 3DS is anything to go by; no. there's just some experiences that can't be replicated on phones or other, non-gaming dedicated devices. And so, at least for another few years, handheld gaming will be alive and well IMO.



 

Here lies the dearly departed Nintendomination Thread.

HappySqurriel on 16 February 2012
Conegamer said:
"For comparison, last month's Trax Gamer Insights survey found that 13 percent of respondents planned to buy the Wii U, with 34 percent and 36 percent planning to buy the next-generation machines from Sony and Microsoft, respectively."

Huh. I wonder if they'll still be saying that when we actually SEE what Sony and Microsoft are planning. I doubt it somehow ;)

OT: If the 3DS is anything to go by; no. there's just some experiences that can't be replicated on phones or other, non-gaming dedicated devices. And so, at least for another few years, handheld gaming will be alive and well IMO.


I think a lot of surveys of this kind don't control for the difference between very wishy-washy intentions ("Yeah, I think I will eventually buy a PS4 or 'XBox 720'") and much more solid intentions ("Yeah, I'm planning on buying a Wii U at or soon after launch"). With the Wii U those intentions will probably translate into sales at a very high rate, while with the other systems only a small portion of those buying intentions will translate into sales in the first year.

I



happydolphin on 16 February 2012

Plus, these kinds of surveys don't really work. The wii and DS had low votes from what I remember. Sales told a different story. I don't really trust these polls tbh.



Salnax on 16 February 2012
mike_intellivision said:

I am not saying that smart devices don't have an effect on handheld gaming devices. I am only saying that you have to be smart and know what will work and what won't. The days of making a mint with casual games on the DS is probably gone. The days of making money with good games is probably here to stay.

Mike from Morgantown


Nintendogs+cats sold over 2 million in 2011, about 40% as well as Nintendogs, an eventual 20+ million seller, did in 2005. And it was considered a critical disappointment.

Maybe casual gaming on the 3DS won't be as big as it was in 2005, but it ain't dead yet.



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Khuutra on 16 February 2012

Completely original Mario Kart game on Android, iOS or equivalent by March of 2016. Be there!



Salnax on 16 February 2012
RolStoppable said:
pezus said:
RolStoppable said:

If they did that, then the headline would or should have been: "Is gaming on dedicated machines doomed?"

no, because the home consoles will get replacements soon anyway. 3DS just came out and is the DS replacement

Damage control. Did you ever take a look at iPad sales? That thing will cannibalize sales of next gen home consoles.


Just like how the immense sales of paper will doom the iPad!



Love and tolerate.

happydolphin on 16 February 2012
RolStoppable said:
pezus said:
RolStoppable said:

Damage control. Did you ever take a look at iPad sales? That thing will cannibalize sales of next gen home consoles.

lol, not sure what ipad has to do with home consoles.

Believe it or not, but it's brought up in serious discussions on why Nintendo's business is doomed, not just their handhelds.

When I brought it up, I meant to explain adoption against device price. You're not bringing up my argument from the Media Create thread here I don't think.



HappySqurriel on 16 February 2012
pezus said:
RolStoppable said:
It's unfair to lump the 3DS and PSV together when the survey only concerned the latter. Just because the PSV is doomed, doesn't mean the 3DS is too.

But honestly, I didn't read the article. However, the survey results are alarming, because the survey was conducted among a heavily biased sample, one that should favor the PSV.

You're right, they should have used NPD numbers to claim doom for 3DS


I think people are focusing far too much on January's NPD numbers (for all platforms). There is far too much that happens on a month to month basis to accurately say anything based on a month or two of sales.



kitler53 on 16 February 2012
HappySqurriel said:

As much as I'm convinced that smart-phones will be around for a long time, I'm not convinced that gaming on smart phones will advance much past flash games replacements for quite some time ...

At the moment a 3DS or PS-Vita game will generate about 10 2 to 20 times as much revenue per unit sold as the typical pay to play smartphone game, and the pay to play smartphone game will generate about 10 to 20 times as much revenue per unit as the typical ad-supported game. This means to generate the same revenue as a 3DS game that sells 100,000 units you would need to have 1 to 2 Million people pay for it on smart phones, or 10 to 40 Million people play an ad supported version of it. This level of revenue is by no means all that high, and I'm willing to bet that the 3DS in its short life already has more games that have passed this level than smartphones have in the past 5 years.

While I believe that the growth of smartphones in the developing world will eventually lead to smart-phones being able to support a large number of Nintendo DS or PSP quality games based on current buisness models, unless you see a dramatic shift in the business models of app developers there will be a huge market for higher-end content for both the 3DS and PS-Vita (and their successors).

Dead space/infinity blade II on iphone sells for $7.

escape plan for vita sells for $15.

..now granted it's probably one of the best performances but infinity blade made $23M in revenue.  translate that back to a $40 3DS/vita game and you are looking at ~575k in full price sales.  a far cry from mario kart but far more then most 3DS/vita games and no doubt will a lot less dev time. 

the fact is though that the average price of iphone games has gone up a lot since the first days on the platform.  the games are a lot shinier too.  I'm probably going to get a vita but i really really reeeaaally doubt that in 5 year or whatever that a next gen is suppose to be starting that i'll be willing to fork so much a $1 to a dedicated gaming device.  a device that limited is just barely acceptable now imo...