Will mobile gaming kill consoles and PC?

Sarath

iDota
The current crop of mobile games usually remind many PC gamers of old flash games and remind consolers of the first generation games but will they take over mainstream gaming. Surely angry birds and temple run, no matter how popular they get will not be considered for comparison with AAA titles like eg: Assassins Creed, Diablo etc.

But what if mobile gaming continues to grow at the pace it is. It is sensitising more people about games, habituating more and more people into playing and most importantly more people now have a device capable of gaming than ever before.

For starters, many people are already reluctant to buy a portable console like the PS Vita or DS, either due to expense, library or just due to similar experiences in other mobile platforms. With new features like video streaming to TV sets and accepting many inputs, they can turn into mini consoles. But what about games?
Well, most cellphones right now can implement an Ouya like gaming UI if they want, but none of the manufacturers are doing it, but they can. Also most mobiles are capable of playing games that are released on Ouya. Now if you give them something like a Gaikai or OnLive kind of capability, then every cellphone can act as a console and play AAA titles like Assassins Creed, GTA etc by connecting to a bluetooth controller and streaming to TV using WiDi or similar implementation.

What if in the future you would just put your phone down in front of the TV, pick up the BT controller (joystick) and start playing AAA titles, just like that.

Right now the closest thing that comes to this implementation is the nVidia Shield, just add cellphone capability and make it smaller, maybe the 4th or 5th revision would be right up there.
 

Anorion

Sith Lord
Staff member
Admin
the market is not gamers, but everyone with a smartphone

world of goo was released on pc and wii, but got highest ratings on touchscreen platform

mobiles are sort of timeless, and are responsible for the resurgence of games from all times, dos, vectrex, pc (prince of persia classic, carmageddon, gta III)

its pushing out games that were stuck in dev hell for longest times... babylonian twins was originally for amiga

infinity blade franchise with $0-$6 pricing made more money for epic than any AAA title for consoles or PC

games were gravitating towards smaller sized, casual, social experiences before mobiles came along, mobiles are just another convenient platform for realizing this. (consider portal or limbo, two celebrated titles with a short play time)

it has developer mindshare simply because it is the most bankable platform atm, even though other platforms have theoretical advantages
 

gameranand

Living to Play
Nope never gonna happen.......Consoles and PC will always stay. You can say that mobile is just another console for gaming.
 

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
mobile can be considered as a mini console at best IMO .. but pc [ and console ] gaming is here to stay forever. Many has predicted and even set a certain deadline for mobiles to take over pcs but that did not happen. Pc sales figure declined but where most of the people bought a pc for general works can now do most of them on smartphones but gaming is a whole different pedigree - same goes for heavy multitasking / project related works - heck, even with 8GB ram I'm getting low memory error from windows just while browsing - is there any smartphones out there whihc can take such loads and gaming, when we will get a SP powerful enough to play C3 :D ?
 

Vyom

The Power of x480
Staff member
Admin
^^ 8 GB "Ram", yeah sure! :p

Anyway, its true that Mobile gaming can't kill console or PC, atleast until the "convergence" happens, and which still seems a distant reality.

I can have the most awesome mobile in my hands (for eg, to be launched Nexus 5), with screen size more than 5", and play the most awesome games like Asphalt 8. But when I come home, I "will" pickup my PC for the ultimate gaming experience in Gird 2, or NFS, and oh yeah, GTA5.

That reminds me, I have to play Burnout this weekend.
 

Anorion

Sith Lord
Staff member
Admin
Mobile is proving most profitable, so its getting just about all the developer mindshare.
How much we like gaming on other platforms wont change this
 

srkmish

Ambassador of Buzz
Eventually i feel yes. With better hardware coming to mobiles at an accelerated pace and the seamless communication between mobiles and tv, soon everyone will be able to stream graphically rich games from mobile to tv( which is also possible now) and just have an additional controller for gaming. Consoles/PC will become a very niche market and its possible that with so less demand they will die.
 

Anorion

Sith Lord
Staff member
Admin
Apart from peripherals, within 10 years consoles and pcs can be mobile sized or smaller
 

RON28

Cyborg Agent
PC and Consoles provide ultimate gaming experience which a Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia ZL or Iphone 5s cannot.
 

gameranand

Living to Play
Eventually i feel yes. With better hardware coming to mobiles at an accelerated pace and the seamless communication between mobiles and tv, soon everyone will be able to stream graphically rich games from mobile to tv( which is also possible now) and just have an additional controller for gaming. Consoles/PC will become a very niche market and its possible that with so less demand they will die.

By the time they become this powerful, you think PC market is going to sit down down and wait for it ?? They also evolve and innovate you know.
 
OP
Sarath

Sarath

iDota
^But mobiles will reach a wider audience, which is why many find it lucrative.

Already there are devices like Razer Edge which are portable yet give console/PC quality gaming (it is a PC ofcourse) but if they manage to cram that in a smartphone like device then it would be much more appealing than buy another gaming system altogether.
 

gameranand

Living to Play
But it can't PC in terms of power, visuals, gameplay. Also if they are able to cram that much power in a mobile then imagine what a whole desktop would be able to do....I mean there audience will always be there for PC market no matter what happens.
 

srkmish

Ambassador of Buzz
By the time they become this powerful, you think PC market is going to sit down down and wait for it ?? They also evolve and innovate you know.

Even with their current "advancement" PC sales are decreasing every year and is expected to continue. I have nothing against PCs. Im just saying that hardcore gamers are a minority and most people are happy gaming on phones or tablets. Soon the trend of streaming high quality games from phones/tabs to TV will be commonplace and there will be lesser people in need of consoles to play on tv.

However, Windows will become less and less as a media consumption OS and more and more a corporate OS. It will be around for very very long as most of the corporate industry is still hinged on it.
 

CommanderShawnzer

Steam High Templar
Brothers! Master Race or Peasant we must root out the menace of the otherwordly nublet Mobile Fanboy(which is always a mobile game dev or Michael Pachter)
 

snap

Lurker
angry birds and temple runs can't kill true gaming devices, there will always be need for consoles in our living room.
 

srkmish

Ambassador of Buzz
Why quote only angry bird and temple run. What about asphalt 8, infinity blade 3, real racing 3, that too within 3 years of release of original ipad.
 

Aerrow

Journeyman
Why quote only angry bird and temple run. What about asphalt 8, infinity blade 3, real racing 3, that too within 3 years of release of original ipad.

Point taken. Mobile gaming is racing uphill and nothing is stopping it. There's no question here. But hardcore gamers will still want console games so even if the user base is seeing its eventual decline, console gaming will endure and survive.

Furthermore, consoles are evolving into a full fledged multimedia center at home which will guarantee its place in living rooms
 

snap

Lurker
Why quote only angry bird and temple run. What about asphalt 8, infinity blade 3, real racing 3, that too within 3 years of release of original ipad.

still they are limited with touchscreens if we want to keep it in the living room then one will have to keep a dedicated mobile plus controller for the said mobile
 
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