What a load of...

You can easily game on the go without a dedicated handheld and you even said how, with a smartphone, that is my whole freaking point, not that gaming on the go will disappear but that dedicated handheld devices will disappear and we are way closer to dedicated handhelds being replacable via smartphones than to streaming being able to reasonably replicate current console level gaming.

Home console gaming can easily be replaced by PC or steamboxes. There's nothing a PC doesn't do a lot better than home consoles. Better and free online, more powerful hardware, cheaper(!), etc.

Yes, I can build a cheap PC that outperforms the PS4 and I can do a lot of other things with it as well. Yet PC gaming hasn't and won't replace console gaming. People rather cling to their Playstation, XBOX and even Nintendo brand. You haven't provided one good reason why smartphones will completely assimilate dedicated handheld devices. A lot of games on the 3DS need buttons to play properly and there are many millions of fans who won't accept a huge downgrade in controls.

Tell me, do you have any idea how big mobile gaming has become in the last couple years? And how ridiculous its growth rate is? Look at this shit:

Or this:

I don't have to be biased against handhelds because "I hate Nintendo" (which is utter bollocks anyway since I've never had any love for handhelds and don't have any love for mobile gaming either) to see what is happening here.

You just showed some graphs, but do you know where all that money is coming from and how many developers are making mobile games out there? What games are making that money? It sure as hell aren't "big budget" games like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Zelda, Pokémon, Yo-kai Watch, Monster Hunter or Dragon Quest. Most mobile games have a much lower budget. With such a budget it's not possible to make games like Pokémon.

And you need to stop fixating on the $40 price point since there is absolutely nothing forcing anyone to sell a game at that price, again pricing models can change and it is more than likely your bias against mobile gaming that lets you refuse to accept that there is a possibility of traditional handheld games releasing on that market.

Pricing models can change you say? Yet you're the one who's pretty adament that mobile gaming will completely assimilate dedicated handhelds. I guess that can't change? Hmm, how arbitrary of you. The BUDGETS of games like Pokémon, Zelda and Mario Kart are forcing a company like Nintendo to sell their games at such a price point. I don't have a bias against mobile games, it's a fun little distraction to play "Free-to-Play" (or "Free-to-Start") games on, but it's not adequate to play big budget games on.

The only person that has not done any research here and that is way too blinded by his own preferences is you, why do you think Nintendos stock price rose by a whopping $8 on the back of the mobile announcement with analysts saying things like this?:

“Finally, Nintendo has turned a corner and embraced a huge strategic shift, opening up its game-IP for smart devices,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal said. “We have long argued that it needs to change. Today, it entered into a business and capital alliance with DeNA. We believe Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and Donkey Kong on smartphones and tablets will expand its market and profit pool dramatically.”

http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/18/nintendos-stock-price-jumps-another-28-as-investment-firm-raises-rating/

Great, selective quoting! Nintendo also said that they would make games that SUIT mobile platforms and that they wouldn't release their traditional games on mobile platforms. I guess you just decided to ignore that part, huh? Obviously a lot of money can be made from mobile gaming, but to make traditional games on mobile platforms would be a big mistake from Nintendo. You'll see for yourself when Nintendo announces their first mobile games. Nintendo said it will use various price points such as "Free-to-Start" games and games with a low price point.

Why do you think western publishers have long since stopped giving a damn about dedicated handhelds but continue to invest in mobile, be it through games or companion apps?

When have Western publishers ever given handheld gaming a fair chance? If they weren't so stuck up with HD gaming last-gen, they wouldn't have gone bankrupt en masse.

And why do you think almost every japanese developer is making mobile games in some capacity?

How would that stop them from making games for dedicated handhelds? One of the most succesful Japanese companies is doing both (i.e. Level-5). In fact, they've been mostly ignoring home consoles and to great success. Handheld/mobile gaming is eating home console gaming in Japan, get used to it.

(1) How many people own PCs capable of gaming at a console level and use them for that purpose? How high is the perceived entry barrier to PC gaming compared to console gaming? Now think about how many people own smartphones/tablets at or above handheld level and use them for gaming and how high the perceived entry barrier is. People aren't clinging to dedicated handhelds, if they were then the market wouldn't be shrinking as it is. Also you're still completely ignoring the simple possibility of button add-ons for phones.

PC gaming makes more revenue than home console gaming. Home console market is shrinking as well. By now it is clear that the XBONE and Wii won't reach anywhere near the numbers of their predecessors (even if the XBONE is currently still ahead of the XBOX360, it's quite clear that that won't last). Only the PS4 will outsell its predecessor. I'm not ignoring the "simple possibility' of button add-ons for phones, it simply won't work well. The games on the mobile platforms are very different to the 3DS library. Just like PC gaming has different games than home console games (MMO's, strategy games, MOBA's, etc.). PC & home console gaming can live along side each other, just like handheld gaming & mobile gaming will live alongside each other.

(2) Entirely irrelevant and false, while development budgets may very well be lower for those games, the money is still being spend elsewhere. Marketing budgets for successful mobile games are huge, or do you think a Superbowl ad starring Kate Upton is cheap? Besides so what if it's cheaper made games that are making the most money, does that mean better produced games with higher quality can't make that money? There's absolutely no logic behind that statement.

It's not false, it's a fact. Most mobile games don't have anywhere near the budget of high profile 3DS games. Mentioning one example won't do, there are countless of mobile games out there.

(3) What in the world kind of statement is that? There's absolutely no connection between those 2 things, could you stop grasping at straws? Also the budgets are not forcing Nintendo to sell those games at these prices, Riot Games isn't forced to sell League of Legends as a $40-60 game either, if you have a bigger potential audience (the mobile market), you can easily make your games cheaper and make way more money.

That statement contradicts everything you claim. There's your connection. You're really going to compare a MOBA game to Nintendo's high profile handheld games? Now who's grasping at straws. Most Nintendo games still sell at retail, why would you go digital only in "a couple of years"? Makes no sense.

(4) Again, entirely irrelevant. The market reacted to the announcement of Nintendo making games for mobile, not to anything else.

(5) You must have missed the time when devs like Rockstar made games for handhelds or when Sony still made a big push for handhelds even with their western arm.

Sony is a Western publisher now? Rockstar is your example? How many games did they make on the DS, one of the best selling consoles ever?

(6) By looking at what is going on? Do you think japanese developers aren't looking at what is happening in the market and are reacting accordingly? You think they aren't seeing the movement away from dedicated handheld devices especially on a global scale? And I have accepted that the console market in Japan is dying a long time ago, but you really showed me with that one.

You still haven't explained why handheld gaming and mobile gaming can't live alongside each other. Like I said, one of the most succesful gaming companies in Japan is mostly making money from the 3DS. If only those other developers did as well.

Also lol at the users who are trying to spin the failure of the Vita into something good... Console with the second most games coming up? I seriously doubt it unless that list includes a lot of shovelware games.