Candy crush is focused to the casual audience, and are not real gamers. It is the very reason why they get so much in skip ahead sales.

It is a scary state of affairs, but rest easy due to one fact. The mobile market is very cut throat and unlike mainsteam gaming, it is very easy for a game to get lost in the wave of cheaper clones that always follow. Mobile games might seem like the easy way out for devs, but the fact remains that the model is far from perfect. In my opinion while the potential for profit in mobile games are high, the reliability of that profit is much higher in the mainstream (consoles and PC) as long as the quality is there, the budget is realistic, and the advertising is done right..

Yeah, because Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are about to dissolve their entire hardware business and put their developers strictly on mobile development.  Do people even think before they ask questions?  So, why hasn't every fine dining restaurant shut down their high end foods operations and sell only easy to make garbage w/ low quality produce/meat?  Why hasn't Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Mclaren, Bugatti, etc... given up making high end luxury or supercars, and just make carbon copies of econo lines?

As I said, still trying to figure out why anyone cares.

Pretty simple, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have home console and/or dedicated handhelds, by pushing their own resources towards mobile development, they're undermining their own hardware.  More money to be made if they simply sell a license to some mobile dev, to use some of their IP in design for a mobile game, than dedicate any of their internal staff to such things.

The other thing to keep in mind is that, not every developer wants to make shitty casual games.  If Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo were to start a concerted push, diverting 1st party resources to such a thing, they could start losing some of the massive pool of talent they've all accrued over the years.  That's also something these companies have to consider.

Capcom is a 3rd party.  They are neither Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo.  And $40 million is $10 million less than what Microsoft paid for 1 year exclusivity of 2 GTA IV expansion packs.  That might be alot to Capcom (who hasn't been doing very stellar lately), but the big 3 deal with far, far more money.

Boy are you in for a shock. 

The breakdown is as follows

$32b - Personal Computer

$29b - TV/Console gaming 

$27b - Mobile

$9.8b- Tablet

$1.8b- Dedicated Handheld

Remember, Console gaming on its own is lower than $29b.

1. Install base of just about everyone in the world by now (vs.a couple hundred million)

2. Demographics that don't have a set idea of how much money should go into a game (vs. being used to spending sixty bucks on average)


I'm not even going to say it's "sad" like everyone else is. It's hitting a completely different market that's also much, much larger. It's just different. Not everything is a competition.

Why am I in for a shock?  That's the same as what I posted.

I play a few games on smartphone and tablet, so they actually eat my free time, preventing me to play games in my PC backlog and making me less willing to buy new ones, but they definitely DON'T "steal" money from my budget, I only play free mobile games and I wouldn't ever spend even a cent on them, I don't find them worth my money. I could probably buy a quality PC game with a bonus Android version, though, if they made one that attract me.

Sorry, 

Meant to quote this person-

Seems to think handheld is still a thing. 

I would think it's obvious.  The big 3 have a vested interest in keeping their consoles/handhelds relevant, which they can enforce via their 1st parties.  3rd parties are under no such constraints, nor do they face severe financial impact if the consoles/handhelds flounder/fail.