My old boss used to have a saying: turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. So it makes sense that Peter Vesterbacka, who leads business development for Rovio, creators of Angry Birds, would claim that console games are “dying”. Even though most evidence disputes that fact.
As reported by GamesBeat at a panel moderated by a South by Southwest Interactive conference in the US, Vesterbacka made some interesting comments on the state of the games industry and the rapid growth of mobile gaming.
Innovation in gaming has clearly moved into mobile and social, Vesterbacka said, largely because those companies are more “nimble” — it’s easy to develop and release new content quickly. In fact, he said as mobile gaming (including games on tablet devices like the iPad) continues to grow, console games are “dying”. Vesterbacka scoffed at the traditional model where companies charge $40 to $50 for a game that’s difficult to upgrade. (Nokia’s Tero Ojanpera, who was also on the panel, countered that there’s still a place for consoles, because gamers aren’t going to plug tablet devices into their televisions.)
It’s an interesting story, which we recommend you read in full here. Vesterbacka goes on to claim that the business model for mobile gaming is still in flux, but the potential is huge. One thing is for sure – the games industry is in some kind of transition phase, and the next two or three years are going to be extremely interesting.
Angry Birds maker predicts the death of console gaming [GamesBeat]
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