Game consoles will be extinct after next-gen, says Jaffe

[KDub]

Iwata made a really good point about this Smart TV idea when asked if Apple's proposed Smart TV worried him.

"We see in the mobile phone market that typically there is a cycle of people replacing their phones roughly every couple of years so a new device like a smartphone penetrates the market quickly," he said. "But when it comes to the television market, the cycle for television replacement is actually much longer; say a five-year cycle at the shortest, to a seven or even 10-year cycle at the longest. So, however fantastic the new television is to be launched, it's not as likely that people will immediately move to upgrade a television necessarily because of that longer cycle."

I'd argue it is even longer on average. That really kills the industry so not something I'd think they would migrate to. As someone else pointed out who is going to buy more than one smart TV to play games for different companies?
Digital...sure (I don't want to argue about that anymore) but Smart TVs? No way.

[isiolia]

I think something like a game console is a lot different than something like a Hulu/Netflix client.

It's more complex, but the implementations of streaming game "platforms" thus far have been fairly similar. OnLive doesn't just have PC and Mac applications, but Android and iOS as well, or their little stand-alone box.

[Nyne]

I personally don't think that gaming consoles will die. At least, not within the next decade. I believe that they will become cheaper and higher quality as the technology improves and it becomes cheaper to own a system. Likely after the next generation graphical power will decrease, because past a certain point graphics all look essentially the same.

Eventually, we may have handheld systems that have the power of a console, and can send the information to a TV so games can be played on a bigger screen, with optional controllers. I think the Playstation Vita may be doing that already, though. I haven't really checked.

Of course, this is just opinion. Thus I'm probably wrong I haven't really kept my eye on modern gaming that much.

[WallCrusher]

Eventually, we may have handheld systems that have the power of a console, and can send the information to a TV so games can be played on a bigger screen, with optional controllers. I think the Playstation Vita may be doing that already, though. I haven't really checked.

Or vice-versa, as the Wii U is touting with NSMBU on its controller.

[Nyne]

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Looks like we're a bit closer than I initially thought. My original statement still stands, though.

[jfrost]

Consoles suck anyway.

[MrPopo]

Consoles suck anyway.

Aren't you guys still stuck with the SMS?

[ZeroAX]

Consoles suck anyway.

Aren't you guys still stuck with the SMS?

They have Mega Drive too. I remember a few years ago Sega was announcing a new Mega Drive system for Brazil

[BoneSnapDeez]

I agree with this and I'm fine with it. 90% of the games I enjoy playing are retro. I'm not too thrilled about the upcoming Microsoft/Sony no-used-games Hulu/Netflix social media hub "game consoles" anyway, I probably won't ever end up getting them. Wii U is the end of the road for me.

[BurningDoom]

Iwata made a really good point about this Smart TV idea when asked if Apple's proposed Smart TV worried him.

"We see in the mobile phone market that typically there is a cycle of people replacing their phones roughly every couple of years so a new device like a smartphone penetrates the market quickly," he said. "But when it comes to the television market, the cycle for television replacement is actually much longer; say a five-year cycle at the shortest, to a seven or even 10-year cycle at the longest. So, however fantastic the new television is to be launched, it's not as likely that people will immediately move to upgrade a television necessarily because of that longer cycle."

I'd argue it is even longer on average. That really kills the industry so not something I'd think they would migrate to. As someone else pointed out who is going to buy more than one smart TV to play games for different companies?
Digital...sure (I don't want to argue about that anymore) but Smart TVs? No way.

I don't think they would make separate smart TVs. I think they'd be separate services, like NetFlix or Hulu. You would subscribe to Playstation Network and/or XBox Live on your smart TV; it would make more sense to me.

I can see the possibility of consoles going the way of the Dodo as technology continues to get smaller and more efficient. But then they told us the same thing when PCs started getting popular, and obviously that didn't turn out to be true. So who knows?