Tech News

iOS and Android are silently killing PC and Console Gaming

July 14, 2012

We all love playing on our little smartphones. Whether it’s Angry Birds, Asphalt 6, Spiderman, or Cut the Rope, more and more people find entertainment in their iOS and Android devices. The last few years have seen the rapid development of the Smartphone market, including the underlying technologies. The development of chips like the Tegra 3 and the A5X pushes the world of mobile gaming to allow for visually stunning games for just a few bucks.

A few years ago, the Console and PC gaming community would have scoffed at this prediction, but now the reality is that Console and PC Games are dying. There is a recent report about the declining sales of these large games. This may not be new news for many people, simply because this decline has been going on for months. For the 7th consecutive month, Console and PC gaming have lost sales.

In last Thursday’s report, Console and PC game hardware, software and accessories have felt a 29% decline in overall sales. There is just less and less people interested in keeping up with Console and PC gaming these days. Slowly but surely, the definition of a ‘gamer’ will become ‘a person tapping and swiping away on their smartphone while on the train’.

The decline of Console and PC gaming is not because the industry itself is not performing. They are actually still pushing high quality games in the wild, as well as updates to popular series of games. Still, the decline is clearly felt, and developers start to wonder if it is all worth it. Android and iOS play an astounding role as to why sales are dropping.

iOS and Android Games are a lot cheaper than Console and PC games

Android and iOS games have been on the rise and they come really cheap. You can get a game from free to about $5 with as much quality as you can tolerate and enjoy on a Smartphone or Tablet. On the other hand, one would have to spend at least $50 for a console or PC game. Given that the time, effort and resources used to create PC and console games are a lot higher, still, in this day and age, where there is an overall decline in the economy, people are less willing to pay for games.

iOS and Android Games are more accessible to play

Smartphone and Tablet games are both fun and portable. More and more people are actually moving to mobile gaming. Not only are people putting more of their cash into it, they are also putting more time into mobile games. Console and PC games are limited in the sense that they can only be played in front of the TV or Monitor, and no one is going to lug that around everywhere.

While many can argue that PC games can be portable as well by simply playing on a mobile laptop, it’s simply not as easy as taking out your phone and tablet from your pocket and in a couple of seconds, start playing. PC games would require that you boot up the Operating System first, load the profile, then the game. The whole process can take minutes of your time, and the thought of what you have to go through to play it on the go can actually discourage a person from gaming.

iOS and Android Games have more Variety

There about 500,000+ apps in a Smartphone’s app store. Even saying that at least 50% of those are games, there is still a whole lot of games to choose from and play. Compare these with the limits of console and PC gaming, where games are pushed out once every few months or even years. The Gaming community even complains that games for the PC and console are becoming less and less varied, and many games are just rehashed or ill fitting sequels to previously great games.

More people prefer short games

It is trending that many people of today get bored easily. Nearly 8 out of 10 gamers are not willing to sit still for hours to play a game till the next checkpoint or savepoint. People have become more and more inclined to play shorter games.

Graphics in Mobile are nearly comparable to Console and PC

With the push for Mobile gaming, chip manufacturers are have been gearing up more and more to create chips that support higher resolution games, with the aim to compete with the console games. Console and PC games on the other hand, seem to be reaching its limit in the graphics development, or maybe they are simply slowing down compared to the past couple of years. It is no question that these games have amazing and very realistic graphics, but they are overshadowed by bad story and gameplay which is remedied by mobile gaming while maintaining high graphic standards.

iOS and Android game developers hear the people

Probably the greatest factor that drives people to mobile gaming, is the sheer connectivity of the mobile gaming community with the development community. Mobile games are enhanced with constant updates, additional content, as well as user requested features. People have more control of what they want to be able to do, and the developers are able to act on it directly. Developers can easily please the gaming community by simply doing what they want, and the gaming community rewards them by adding more support and providing subsequent purchases.

It is no secret that by now, the gaming industry is in a state of overhaul. Unless things change for PC and Console gaming, Smartphone and Tablet gaming will continue to eat into their market share and sales. Even the developers of popular PC and Console games are moving on to creating their own teams or businesses, by creating games for the mobile operating system. Still, the world just moves on, slowly and silently abandoning the old gaming world. There may come a time when PC and console gaming will eventually die, or be left lying in a small corner of the minds of people. One thing is for sure, they really have to get moving, if they want to get back in the game.