Man, remember taking out the trash for a weekly allowance, only to blow it at the local arcade on Pac-Man and Street Fighter? Those were the days, and if you ask Ngmoco Sweden head Ben Cousins, we might look at game consoles in the same light someday. During a talk at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Cousins all but declared that consoles are already laid up in hospice.According to Gamasutra, Cousins compared the path of consoles made by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony in the face of the iPhone, iPad and various Android devices to the downward spiral of movie theaters after televisions hit in the '50s. Cousins said that there was a "total and utter collapse" of movie theaters in the UK after that shift. Despite that, Cousins said the "the content people did okay" by bringing movies to TV and later home video.
"They moved their content to the lower-res, free-to-play TV channels," Cousins said, according to Gamasutra. "Games content developers need to do the same. They need to move their content to these low-resolution platforms."
That's exactly what game makers did during the shift from arcades to consoles in the '80s and '90s, as those devices rapidly increased in power. Now, as mobile devices grow more powerful every year, Cousins predicts that consoles face the same fate. "I believe that mobile devices and mobile platforms are the disruptive technologies that are going to cut a slice through the Western market," Cousins said. And if you ask folks like Epic Games president Mike Capps, they'd likely agree.
Do you agree that the iPhone, iPad and other devices will overtake game consoles? If so, when? And if not, how do you think consoles will remain competitive? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.