Will tablets be the next console generation?

[Nando]

From the article, bolded part is my edit.  
“Yes and no. We may yet be a generation or two away from where tablets are completely dominant. Tablets are growing by leaps and bounds in popularity; three to four years hence they are going to have a very significant role in the gaming ecosystem. More importantly, if you look at the generation that's growing up with tablets today you see how smartphones and tablets are topping kids' holiday wish lists. Think about what that means 8 to 10 years hence for an entire generation who's grown up with their very definition of video games completely and fundamentally altered from those who grew up with consoles.” - Scott Steinberg, CEO, TechSavvy Global

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/tablet-wars-and-the-future-of-a-mass-market-games-platform

[Emerald Rocker]

No, this is ridiculous.  Kids have grown up with portable gaming since the 70s -- the allure of the console is because it offers something that the handhelds (which includes iPhones / iPads) don't provide.  I'm not dismissing tablets as a "flash in the pan" -- they're far more capable than the handhelds of olde.  But the people who love tablets are people who don't take gaming seriously.  The non-gamer market won't impact console development even if tablets manage to surpass consoles in overall popularity; both can be profitable.

[hizaygizirlz]

No, this is ridiculous.  Kids have grown up with portable gaming since the 70s -- the allure of the console is because it offers something that the handhelds (which includes iPhones / iPads) don't provide.  I'm not dismissing tablets as a "flash in the pan" -- they're far more capable than the handhelds of olde.  But the people who love tablets are people who don't take gaming seriously.  The non-gamer market won't impact console development even if tablets manage to surpass consoles in overall popularity; both can be profitable.

well said.

[SignOfZeta]

No, this is ridiculous.  Kids have grown up with portable gaming since the 70s -- the allure of the console is because it offers something that the handhelds (which includes iPhones / iPads) don't provide.  I'm not dismissing tablets as a "flash in the pan" -- they're far more capable than the handhelds of olde.  But the people who love tablets are people who don't take gaming seriously.  The non-gamer market won't impact console development even if tablets manage to surpass consoles in overall popularity; both can be profitable.

well said.

Yeah, keep believing that.

[TheClash603]

I don't necessarily think that consoles will disappear, but rather full priced $60 retail games might.

The preliminary word is that the next Xbox is going to come in two versions, one which will play retail games and another which will play the downloadable games from Xbox live.  Even if this doesn't happen, I think that just the fact there is speculation it could happen is very indicative of the way the market is today.  People enjoy paying $1 for a game and are willing to sacrifice the quality that is lost from a full retail product.

I think the Wii U is already showing that tablets are the next wave of the console.  I think that the obvious progression is to have a download only "console" which is in the form of a tablet that you can take with you where ever you go.  Instead of having a Wii U where there is a box that plays games and a table controller, the future will be removing that box all together.

I am nervous about the future of the industry, as I much prefer retail releases to the usual shitty downloadable game.  The problem is that 90% of these games don't make money and the only ones that do are the games I typically don't care for anyway.

A best case scenario is that developers can make enough money avoiding retail costs that a game can come out at $30 downloadable and maybe twice as many people buy it and the game can be profitable.  Not sure if that can happen though...

[hizaygizirlz]

I don't necessarily think that consoles will disappear, but rather full priced $60 retail games might.

The preliminary word is that the next Xbox is going to come in two versions, one which will play retail games and another which will play the downloadable games from Xbox live.  Even if this doesn't happen, I think that just the fact there is speculation it could happen is very indicative of the way the market is today.  People enjoy paying $1 for a game and are willing to sacrifice the quality that is lost from a full retail product.

I think the Wii U is already showing that tablets are the next wave of the console.  I think that the obvious progression is to have a download only "console" which is in the form of a tablet that you can take with you where ever you go.  Instead of having a Wii U where there is a box that plays games and a table controller, the future will be removing that box all together.

I am nervous about the future of the industry, as I much prefer retail releases to the usual shitty downloadable game.  The problem is that 90% of these games don't make money and the only ones that do are the games I typically don't care for anyway.

A best case scenario is that developers can make enough money avoiding retail costs that a game can come out at $30 downloadable and maybe twice as many people buy it and the game can be profitable.  Not sure if that can happen though...

Yeah I think home consoles that play on the TV will always be around.  $50/60 dollar games will still exist for how many millions go into some of these big buget games COD/GTA and so on.

For every big franchise that dies (Tony Hawk or Guitar Hero) something will take it's place.  Then eventually the franchises that haven't been used in a while get a revival or retro release.

-------------
Companies are doing their best to get rid of physical copies of a game.  Many don't even include a manual with retail releases anymore in this current generation.

Downloadable games aren't all that bad some great games would only be able to exist w/out a full retail copy.

People in our age group care about the physical media I'd rather have a Skyrim disk than a Skyrim file on a HD, but I'm not sure someone who is 14-15 cares either way,  so eventually we will see some type of box that only holds digital games, similar to what they tried to do w/ the PSP GO.

Also I think micro transactions will be an even bigger priority from companies be it DLC add on content/characters/items/maps or physical items with more games that try to do what Skylander does buy the main game, but sell physical figures etc.

[Duo_R]

My nephew has a Wii, plays it hardly at all anymore. He just got an iPad, his parents can't peel him away from it. He is super addicted to MineCraft. I got an iPad (actually 2) in the house, but I really don't want my kid addicted to it like that. My kid has peeled back from console gaming tho, he was getting pretty bad for a while. lol

Yeah this next generation is going to be really interesting. I have a feeling that we will get that moment where kids will be like "what...you have to hold a controller??? No touch screen or swiping? LAME!"

[soop]

No, this is ridiculous.  Kids have grown up with portable gaming since the 70s -- the allure of the console is because it offers something that the handhelds (which includes iPhones / iPads) don't provide.  I'm not dismissing tablets as a "flash in the pan" -- they're far more capable than the handhelds of olde.  But the people who love tablets are people who don't take gaming seriously.  The non-gamer market won't impact console development even if tablets manage to surpass consoles in overall popularity; both can be profitable.

well said.

Yeah, keep believing that.

I actually agree.   Gaming could (and is, to an extent) grow into tablet-style controls, but the fact is, games have developed over the years to use complicated controllers, and it's very hard to make either the vast existing library of games, or the popular AAA titles fit into that flat control scheme.

you could use a controller with a tablet, but that would just turn it into a small screen with an awkward viewing angle.

Kids don't just want a tablet to play games, that's a nice little bonus.  They want them for music, social media and videos.

[SignOfZeta]

$60 retail games as we know them today won't be around unless some big changes are made. Kids (everyone, really) have a finite amount of cash. In 1999 they bought $50 games left and right. They also bought CDs. Now every kid has a phone bill of $40-100 a month. They want a new iPhone every two years, a new iPad about as often. Kids aren't twice as rich as they were in 1999. They have even less money, really, so something has to give. They don't buy CDs anymore, that industry is a ghost of what it was in 1999.

How many people do you know who bought a desktop computer this year? Not a tablet or disposable netbook POS but a real computer? When was the last time you even thought about doing such a thing? Did you realize that IBM, Eye Bee f*cking Em, stopped making home computers? Did you know that the Macbook is the best selling laptop YET the company that makes it only gets %10 of their revenue from real computers these days, with the other %90 coming from iOS toys, music sales, etc? Did you know that Dell sometimes makes more money off putting trialware on a machine than they do from the machine itself?

Things...change. Sega used to make consoles. Sony used to make money at making consoles. Nintendo recently posted its first annual loss since it started selling video games.

People aren't as interested in full priced retail games either, and AAA games are a huge f*cking gamble. For every Call of Doodie there are a dozen flops. The capital is being rapidly sucked out of the console industry which means fewer AAA games based on more sure thing concepts.

Look at the PC game selection at Target. Notice how its like...a dozen titles? Notice how half those titles are the same f*cking games they had last year, the Sims, Blizzard shit, EA shit with a different number on the end? That's the future of consoles. Very soon the only games not being developed primarily for iPad will be games that are impossible on iPad and...that ain't much these days. Once Apple figures out that a 1st party snap on joystick for the iOS devices will make them 10B USD its going to be VERY hard for Nintendo to justify its existence. Sony is completely and totally f*cked no matter what.

so eventually we will see some type of box that only holds digital games, similar to what they tried to do w/ the PSP GO.

Um...yeah. That would be...the iPhone.

Its not all doom and gloom though.

There are a few good things about this. For one, the current climate of console gaming is f*cking horrible and could use a huge shake-up, IMO.

Once people get past the novelty of super powerful handheld hardware they are going to actually start demanding something from the software that runs on it. Ad supported Doodlejump clones aren't going to cut it anymore. They companies that are going to start demanding actual money (ie: $7-30 anyway) for iOS games are going to be EA, Square, and Bandai. Square is sticking to "high" prices for its games. As soon as they making something worth paying for I'll buy one. Bandai has yet to really get on board with iOS, but they have a SRW card battle game coming out soon and if it works out well expect full $30 releases that sell 250,000+ copies based on their established series. EA is one of the few companies actually making games for iPhone worth paying for. FIFA 13 is, I'm not joking, actually fully legitimately playable. I have it, and its honestly fun and worth putting real time into. That isn't true of %99.99 of all iOS software, so this is significant. What's also significant is that it gets $7 instead of $1.

And because I know some evangelical nut ball will mention it, yes, this is also all true for Android, the Betamax of mobile OS. After all, there will always be poor kids and guys who collect swords.

Honestly, I'm tired of the way things are right now. The best overall console out there right now is from f*ckING MICROSOFT which is just...pathetic. Load times are still terrible on many games. Everything non-Nintendo is over engineered break-down prone garbage. How many 360s have you owned? How long does it take to set the clock on your PS3?

I could have bought a Wii U recently, but instead I bought a nice camera. I'll still be using it when Sony announces that they aren't going to make a PS5. It takes great pictures!

Historic Grand Prix!



Texas caterpillars!



Cats!



More cats!



This is Chuck Chuck! He speaks for the trees!



Chuck Chuck told me something like, "Dude, you did right to buy this camera instead of some stupid-ass Xbox/Vita/iPad bullshit.

[soop]

I disagree.  The videogame industry is analogous in some ways to the film industry.  Yeah, there are huge flops sometimes, but there's also money to be made.  However it seems like since some of the money has dropped in Hollywood, they seem to have cottened on to the idea that the executives who want to "monetize" a brand need to but the f*ck out, or the brand will be worth shit anyway.  Reboot after reboot of Superhero films seems to be pointing a way towards a truer story, rather than a garish franchise, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that many directors are being given greater creative control.

Unfortunately the opposite is true of the videogame industry, and that's really my fear.  Games are (and have long been) so expensive to make, that creativity is stifled in favour of AAA sequels, or constant rehashes of previously successful ideas.  Worms 3D or whatever.  And now comes the monetization with on disc DLC that would have just been part of the game 5 years ago.  I'm really hoping people vote with their feet on that, because DLC is currently a terrible excuse to wring money from honest gamers, rather than actually adding value to a happy purchase.

As far as iPhone apps go, that's a bubble that's going to burst.  Everyone and their dog saw a goldmine where you could create a fun, simple game, charge $1 for it, and become an overnight millionaire.  Guess what?  There are a huge amount of apps that are growing, while not exponentially, at an alarming rate.  You release an app, it's quickly going to be drowned in the flood, even if you get a lot of good luck coming your way.  And this becomes a catch 22 - do you want to invest a lot of money on something facing such steep competition, and probably won't make back a large investment?

The only thing that's going to save the app store is if they actively start pruning back some of the old apps and massively step up their quality control.   The Android store is probably even worse, with a faster growing selection, and an less restrictive process.

Tablets may well be on the rise, but the games for them certainly aren't, unless something changes.

BTW, even though it's expensive, XBLA is a prime example of Getting It Right.  PS3 and Wiiware have great plus points too.

[KingDrool]

It's hard to disagree w/Zeta. I don't know that tablets are necessarily the future, but I do know that things are changing very quickly. In a world of streaming and cloud-based saves, will we really need three separate consoles anymore?

[Arkhan]

Tablets and shit won't be the future of gaming until the controls stop blowing more dick than a hooker at a gas station in Vegas.

[soop]

It's hard to disagree w/Zeta. I don't know that tablets are necessarily the future, but I do know that things are changing very quickly. In a world of streaming and cloud-based saves, will we really need three separate consoles anymore?

Things are changing quickly, but in todays market, you don't need three consoles unless you absolutely need the handful of games that aren't available on the 360 AND the PS3.  I expect that gap to close further in the next generation.  It's becoming unviable for someone like Konami to release a huge budget game like Metal Gear Solid n to half the available market when they could take much of the content and recode it for minimal effort to reach millions of extra customers.  The only thing seperating the PS3 and 360 are quirks like kinnect/move, and (quasi)in-house stuff like Halo, Forza, God of War etc.

Tablets and shit won't be the future of gaming until the controls stop blowing more dick than a hooker at a gas station in Vegas.

Not only that, but Windows 8 will probably blur the lines between tablet and PC.  You might not be able to play Crysis on a tablet, but considering the power they have packed into them, it's not inconceivable that for all but the bleeding edge, people will start marketing PC games that work on both.

[BigusSchmuck]

As soon as we see good tablets hit the sub $200 mark I don't think its completely out of the question. Not everyone has $400-700 to spend on a tablet whereas you can get a laptop that does the same thing and more. Right now the only thing tablets got going for them is that people can use them as a remote access point (of course a laptop can do this too) and the touch screen. Gaming? Unless we start seeing tablets with equivalent specs to consoles/pcs and don't cost a arm and a leg it could be the future. As it stands now, if you are into $1 games and love casual gaming there are definitely better options.

[Nando]

MOAR fire to the argument

http://kotaku.com/5892836/the-best-26+minute-argument-that-game-consoles-are-dying

and

http://kotaku.com/5973498/www.thedrowning.com