There’s no denying that the handheld gaming market has blown up over the last few years (even beyond what the DS could garner), with the huge popularity of things like the iPhone and Android phones. However, this should not be regarded as the death knell for traditional consoles, according to one designer.
Mark Cerny is the lead architect of Sony’s PlayStation 4, and takes the time to break down the recent analysis that suggests mobile gaming is gaining so much ground that it may one day push the consoles right out of our homes. Cerny begins by acknowledging that this has certainly impacted the market:
“If you look at the set of people who have smartphones and the subset of them that play games on their smartphones, it is enormous. And games as a result have had explosive growth on tablets.”
However, as with most things, there are two sides to the story. Cerny believes that if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find the data is skewed and doesn’t accurately reflect the overall gaming picture:
“Within that context, console gaming becomes a smaller portion and so it’s very easy for the analysts to question if consoles have a role. Of course they do. It’s a huge fan base. It’s just that the rest of the world is now coming in.”
While it’s a safe bet consoles aren’t going anywhere in the immediate future, this poses an interesting question. Can gaming survive as a mobile only platform? Let us know what you think in the comments below!