Also, Shuji Utsumi (SEGA of America & Europe) discussing the current console market—which is quite terrible right now.

Here’s why the console market is hurting: it’s being squeezed by PCs, handhelds, and smartphones.

When you look at the traditional living room console, it might be “simple” but it’s not convenient. And the Switch 2 is an exception specifically because it’s not a traditional console.

For a moment, though, let’s consider PC gaming. It used to be if you wanted PC gaming, you’d be stuck at a desk. But now there are PC laptops and handhelds. Or, if you want, you can stream either locally or remotely to a phone or tablet.

So the great thing about PC gaming is you have all this variety of hardware in a myriad of form factors and you can access anything at any time.

Now mobile really is a different market. But it’s also, in its own way similar to PC.

When we think about mobile, we think smartphones and tablets. But there’s also TV boxes like Fire Sticks and Apple TV. And there’s dedicated Android gaming handhelds you can buy—quite cheap too.

But consoles? Mostly they’re stuck in the living room.

To be sure both Microsoft and Sony know this. Which is why Sony’s tried to make PlayStation streamable both to PC and Portal. And Microsoft launched the Xbox everywhere initiative.

But the end now is both Microsoft and Sony have released their formerly exclusive games to PC.

So will consoles be revived? Probably—but I don’t think they’ll be consoles as we know them. Quite probably, they’ll become more and more like PCs and mobile. Perhaps just more walled garden.

https://atomicpoet.org/notice/AvpRDbggdeQ1GyBA92