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Consoles are set to die out and be replaced by tablets and smartphones, claims NgMoco’s Ben Cousins.
As reported by Gamasutra, the former EA and DICE exec said that the sea-change was already underway and that new devices would steal a ”significant” amount of market share from home consoles.
“I believe that mobile devices and mobile platforms are the disruptive technologies that are going to cut a slice through the Western market,” said Cousins.
One example he gave was THQ’s failure with its uDraw tablet, which drew poor sales that he Cousins says reflects the move by children to mobile games.
He highlighted the fact that more convenient and in many cases less powerful technology seemed to prevail throughout history. He cited the move from arcades to home consoles, and in some respects with Cinemas to TV.
Cousins said that during the 1950’s, thousands of cinemas in the US were closed down as people took to watching entertainment at home, and that there was a “total and utter collapse” of filmgoers in the UK, with content providers moving to bring film to TV.
"They moved their content to the lower-res, free-to-play TV channels," he said.
"Games content developers need to do the same. They need to move their content to these low-resolution platforms."
He also stated that proof that the market share for console gaming was shrinking was in part due to the fact that Apple, Google and Facebook had a combined market capitalisation of $793 billion, against the $306 billion value of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
This however did not take into account the various non-gaming revenue streams from the companies.
