Is the Mobile Market Killing the Gaming Market?

This news has been spreading all over the media since I believe around 2011. We're living in a day of age where almost everyone owns smartphones, apps, androids, and other small devices that include micro-games that are meant to be time-killers. However, there's been a lot of media coverage about the concern of both the console market and the handheld market's future when people are buying more smartphones and tablets than video game consoles and handheld, as well as being multi-media devices. Some even considered that the tradtional gaming market will be dead in a few years and all of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft's titles will have to be converted to mobile games in order to survive. This is how I believe why the Xbox One was created: to compete with the mobile market with its multi-media features, why people are being doom and gloom about Nintendo's future for not taking a similar route as Microsoft, Sony, and the mobile market, and why another video game crash is expected. Many gamers oppose the idea that mobile games will kill the gaming market, since the games in our smartphones and tablets have about the same quality as a mediocre 2600 game. Here I'm asking you guys: Is the mobile market really killing the gaming market, or are worrying about an apocalypse that's never going to happen soon?

No, of course not! At least not for PC gaming, which is mostly what I do. There's always going to be a market for people who want to sit down and play with some amazing graphics and sound, plus keyboard and mouse! I can see why consoles would want to go all integrating, but I still believe consoles will be here to stay. Consoles will integrate all the home entertainment biz, like TV and internet, but mobile phones can't compete with that. They both involve integration, but they both are going to stay separate because phones = moving and consoles = stay at home.

No, at least not yet. As they stand, mobile games are simply something that's meant to be played in really short bursts, while handheld games are more of those long-term experiences that just wants to leap with you out of the house. They're both two different kind of goals in my opinion.

Realistically? Right now, no. In the future? Yeah.

Back in the day, arcades were common. But they started losing share to the less advanced home console market since this was, for the average person, a more convenient form of gaming. Then home consoles started advancing at a rapid pace, and soon the arcades started closing down, one by one, until only a very tiny number remained.

The same will happen with the mobile gaming market - It already has the console market beat for convience. And as the home consoles did to the arcades, eventually technology will advance to the point where the mobile market will do the same to the console market.

But this is rather far off - The mobile markets will make small gains on the console markets yearly, but I don't see it replacing it for at least another decade. Perhaps a decade and a half.

Well, actually - Now that I think about it, maybe not. Home consoles replaced arcades quickly since they were unable to adapt to consumer demands - That is, gaming at home. Consumer demands now are multi capable consoles - Consoles that do more then just play games. But given that the mobile markets can do the same thing, it's a matter of what advances quicker - Odd's are that it's the mobile market that would do so.

Edit - I differientiate between the console gaming market and the pc gaming market. The mobile market will eventually put a end to the console market, but I don't forsee a end to the pc market since it's more adaptable. Specifically, the desktop market - Laptops and netbooks will be replaced by smartphones/tablets but the desktop market would survive mainly since desktops would always have superior hardware and specific functions that the smartphone/tablet market couldn't take over.

I just don't see it happening at least for a long time, there's just too many drawbacks on mobile gaming. For one the battery life sucks, I can't even finish the final dungeon in FFIII without having to pause and charge my phone halfway through. The controls are just nowhere near as good as actual gaming consoles for a vast majority of the time, how am I meant to play a FPS or a Platformer on an iPhone without my hands covering the screen? There's also the problem that there are no hard copy games, which a lot of console players love and I can totally understand why.

Nope, not yet. But I'll tell you what IS killing gaming; the mainstreaming of gaming.

I've said this for a few years now, and I'll continue to say it: mobile games cannot compare to games made for dedicated consoles/handhelds. I'm sorry, but playing anything beyond something like Angry Birds or Peggle on a touchscreen-only device is clunky at best. I know there are full console-like experiences available on mobile phones, but the interface just can't compare to having dedicated gaming controls (analog stick, buttons, etc.).

To me, gaming on my phone is limited to playing a few rounds of Angry Birds or Fruit Slice if I'm waiting in line or something. If I want to do any serious gaming, I go to my consoles or my 3DS. So no, at least for my part, I can't see console/handheld gaming yielding to mobile gaming anytime soon.

No; I think the bigger threat to gaming is the realization that good games don't necessarily equal good sales. Companies are companies because they make money; that's the goal of companies. Software companies included. I believe that if more people buy the same processed games every year, they're essentially sending a message that says "Innovation? Pfft, I just wanna shoot people in a game that essentially is the same as it was last year, but with SLIGHTLY sharper graphics and a new gun!"

Companies will learn from this, and say to themselves: "We could spend a lot of money on a new franchise that'll probably be an awesome experience but won't sell well since it doesn't have people shooting other people in a military setting, or we could spend a fraction on the same ideas we've been churning out year after year and break previous sales records."

tl;dr: Sequels are harmful, popular sequels are deadly, and cashcows are the insta-death to the gaming industry. We just need to pull together to find the Phoenix Down.

Don't get me wrong; I love shooting things. Especially virtual people. But I don't buy the newest Call of Duty game for full price. Maybe $10~$20, and only because the one I'm playing now is full of hackers, considering the mass volume of players moved on to the newer titles, which means less support for the older ones.

Microtransactioncraft. The new iOS game.