Handheld Gamers Moving From Dedicated Devices to Smartphones

[ZilogZ80]

Gaming is a niche, whether it is on a console, handheld or smartphone. All it appears you are saying is one niche may become bigger than another niche.

Yes I suppose I am really. I just think that, over time, the smartphone niche will become massively bigger, to the point where it is no longer niche but completely mainstream. I would liken it to the sort of person who might play solitaire or minesweeper on their PC and not even realise that they are a gamer of sorts. But you are right this is not particularly relevant to the subject of the thread.

It will be interesting to see what happens when iOS (and other smartphone) games evolve to the point where you can have a casual, 5 minute game like Angry Birds and a deep, immersive game on the same device.

I am referring to the three countries you first mentioned Out of the billion you mention, how many own a house, car, ipad, iphone, smartphone, camcorder, TV, DVR, how many have some sort of cable or satellite TV, how many have high speed internet connections, have many even have internet at all, a coffee maker, a stereo system, computer. These are all niche items.

Perhaps I am completely wrong, but I would have thought most people in Europe/US/Japan have at least one if not many more of these items? But again this is not directly relevant to the thread.

 

[Millah]

There's still going to be a market for gaming devices. These "analysts" have such a one-track mind and bandwagon on every new craze. There will always be a market of core gamers that will want a more traditional experience. There's plenty of gamers like me that will have both a true gaming handheld like the 3DS as well as an iPhone for more casual games.

The reason that the handheld market right now isnt exploding like the iPhone is because all the current handhelds are extremely dated and development for new software has slowed a bit because of that. While smart phones are the hot new thing and has very advanced new hardware, and with that an exploding developer community of not only large studios but independent developers as well.

Once the 3DS comes out that will inject a little bit of activity back in the handheld market. The gaming community still wants core games on handhelds, and exciting new hardware like the 3DS will restore excitement. But as it is right now the DS is incredibly dated and people have stopped playing it because the games aren't coming out anymore and they look terrible. And the PSP has been slowing since before the app store explosion. It may not have as large of a market as iPhones and iPod touches, but that doesn't mean a market doesn't exist at all.

Nintendo will do fine with the 3DS, japan is going crazy about it and the rest of the gaming community is just as excited. It's Sony that we should be worrying about. I'm not sure that a PSP 2 will be able to compete against Apple and Nintendo, especially if they just make a more powerful PSP. It's got to be pretty damn appealing to get Japan and others away from the 3DS/iPhone combo.

 

[sinsin07]

Yes I suppose I am really. I just think that, over time, the smartphone niche will become massively bigger, to the point where it is no longer niche but completely mainstream. I would liken it to the sort of person who might play solitaire or minesweeper on their PC and not even realise that they are a gamer of sorts. But you are right this is not particularly relevant to the subject of the thread.

It will be interesting to see what happens when iOS (and other smartphone) games evolve to the point where you can have a casual, 5 minute game like Angry Birds and a deep, immersive game on the same device.


Perhaps I am completely wrong, but I would have thought most people in Europe/US/Japan have at least one if not many more of these items? But again this is not directly relevant to the thread.

What is your definition of "mainstream'? If everyone in each of the mentioned countries has at least one of those items, it does not make the vast majority.

Mainstream is life, death, sleep, wake eat and toilet, those are common to everyone. Everything else is a niche.

 

[fortunecookie]

So true! One of the main reasons why I got an iphone is so i can have: gaming, multimedia, camera, gps, and a phone all in one. Saves me a lot of cost if I were to buy them individually.

 

[Millah]

What is your definition of "mainstream'? If everyone in each of the mentioned countries has at least one of those items, it does not make the vast majority.

Mainstream is life, death, sleep, wake eat and toilet, those are common to everyone. Everything else is a niche.

Gaming is such a niche eh? Yea, that's why the largest entertainment launch in history was for a video game launch last month. Beating the record that they ALSO set last year by more than one hundred million dollars.

Ok...Your definition of a "niche" is a bit ridiculous.

 

[ZilogZ80]

What is your definition of "mainstream'? If everyone in each of the mentioned countries has at least one of those items, it does not make the vast majority.

I think we are heading slightly off-topic here - and I don't have any specific data to back this up - but I would say that the vast majority of people in the developed world (at least in the UK, where I live) DO have mobile phones. Given a few years, every mobile phone will be a smartphone therefore smartphones will be mainstream. The same will never be said about the Nintendo DS, nor for that matter any dedicated gaming system.

 

[Mooey]

The only time I play a game on my phone is when I'm on the crapper. Handheld gaming's here to stay.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I think we are heading slightly off-topic here - and I don't have any specific data to back this up - but I would say that the vast majority of people in the developed world (at least in the UK, where I live) DO have mobile phones. Given a few years, every mobile phone will be a smartphone therefore smartphones will be mainstream. The same will never be said about the Nintendo DS, nor for that matter any dedicated gaming system.

When you can provide information on how a 10 year old can afford a data plan, I will accept your theory. Until then, most kids will use a PSP or DS.

 

[ZilogZ80]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

I think we are heading slightly off-topic here - and I don't have any specific data to back this up - but I would say that the vast majority of people in the developed world (at least in the UK, where I live) DO have mobile phones. Given a few years, every mobile phone will be a smartphone therefore smartphones will be mainstream. The same will never be said about the Nintendo DS, nor for that matter any dedicated gaming system.

When you can provide information on how a 10 year old can afford a data plan, I will accept your theory. Until then, most kids will use a PSP or DS.

Good point, although I think even 10 year olds have phones these days, and I'd imagine they do most of their downloading via wi-fi at home.

 

[Steve Mobs]

At the article.

Pshhhh. Dedicated portable gaming devices are going to be around for a while. Smartphones don't have the essential pads, joysticks, and buttons. And, I doubt there will be a device that combines the two soon, as that compromises essential features. (It's been done, but poorly, e.g. Nokia N-Gage and Sony Ericsson PS Phone.)

The reason for the decrease in market share is not because of the games on smartphones, but because the DS and PSP are approaching their end of life. A shift towards smartphones is again, not because of the games, but because a smartphone also provides more. Which portable device are you more likely to bring with you and spend time with? A device that plays games -- or a device that is a phone, iPod with gigabytes of storage, and can access the internet (email, social networking, maps, etc.)?

Generally, the DS'es and PSP's are more for kids, while teens and adults will prefer a smartphone and stationary console.

 

[iMaggot]

Sorry to rain on the Apple fanboy parade but you guys are forgetting that more people play on the phone because they have it on them all damn day, So you can't really compare a dedicated gaming device to a phone, I'm a hardcore gamer so to me touch gaming is a joke, I like games with great controls, awesome story, and solid gameplay (like GOW, MGS, SOCOM, etc). Touch gaming doesn't deliver any of that for me, So I'll stick to my PSP & DS for gaming and use the phone to kill some time in the DMV line.

 

[teme]

Surely some gamers are moving from dedicated devices to smartphones, but both dedicated devices (psp, ds) are quite old devices and they are approaching their end (less new games etc). Many developers are waiting for 3DS and PSP2, and those new devices will get new attention to dedicated devices... but anyway, some handheld gamers (including me) are not that excited about dedicated devices anymore.

 

[christian_k]

I don't think the future is that bad for devices like DS or PSP.

- Smartphones tend to be much more expensive than dedicated gaming devices. They usually require service contracts and getting games for them requires use of online payment systems or credit cards. Problematic for a younger audience.

- iPhone4 and similar obviously have some "geek advantage" at the moment. But this is mainly because iPhone4 is new and DS/PSP are pretty old designs. New gaming handheld will probably introduce new features specially for gaming.

Christian

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Three future features would make gaming on iOS even more appealing:

1. Having the option to use bluetooth paired controllers
2. The ability to send the audio and video to a TV via airplay
3. The ability to play multiplayer on multiple devices on the same network

Anyway, I play a lot of Yahtzee on my iphone.

 

[madmax_2069]

I still believe that a touch screen is good for some games but not all, and having real buttons and D pad and control stick is better for some but not all.

a iPhone/iTouch/iPad is nice and all but never will replace my PSP or DS because they are better with some games then what you can get from a touch screen. Yeah $1 - $6 is a awesome price for games, but you can get used games for just as cheap for the PSP and DS.

Granted good games have came a long way on the iOS devices but they still get out numbered when it comes to the library on the DS and PSP.

Just wait till the next gen PSP and DS comes out. The only reason that the iOS devices and cell phones are doing so well in gaming is because the DS and PSP are so old, and people want something new. and the fact that most people have their cell phones around with them everywhere and sometimes revert to playing the games to pass the time.

If the iOS devices had some sort of way to pair up a bluetooth controller, hook up to a HDTV, great multiplayer then and only then will i see it as a better platform for games. until then no dice.

So true! One of the main reasons why I got an iphone is so i can have: gaming, multimedia, camera, gps, and a phone all in one. Saves me a lot of cost if I were to buy them individually.

Well you can sort of do all of that with a PSP. camera (add on), GPS (add on), gaming, multimedia, and you can use skype as a phone to call home land lines and cell phones but only if your are around a wifi connection or hotspot.

 

[briansolomon]

I own a Gameboy Advance SP that I bought strictly for travel. Then I got an iPhone and while I took my Gameboy on trips with me after that it never left the bag. Despite Mario being way better than anything I could play on the iPhone it's just simply extra stuff I don't want to deal with, especially with the way security is getting at airports. The games are way cheaper, and I don't have to fumble with cartridges everytime I want to change a game. I'm certainly a fan of nintendo's games, but I'm not a fan of games enough in general to make me want to take a whole other system just to pass the time on the plane or on a long roadtrip.

 

[kdarling]

Recently a video was leaked of the Sony PSP phone, and references to its controls were found in the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) SDK.

Article here.

 

[Jaro65]

When you can provide information on how a 10 year old can afford a data plan, I will accept your theory. Until then, most kids will use a PSP or DS.

or iPod Touch.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Yeah, but the iPad defeats the whole "portable always with me" argument. What will the "IOS gaming rules" pundits say now?

I'd argue that the iPad is portable. It's bigger but it's painless to carry around

But portable or not it's irrelevant right now because most of the "hardcore" games for it are poor and don't provide anything close to a console or dedicated handheld experience

Angry Birds and Scrabble and anything that can be programmed in less than a week, and ported to a web browser are poor replacements for the higher standard of games a lot of us have come to expect

 

[LagunaSol]

Angry Birds and Scrabble and anything that can be programmed in less than a week, and ported to a web browser are poor replacements for the higher standard of games a lot of us have come to expect

Angry Birds can be programmed in a week??? I'm in the wrong line of work.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Angry Birds can be programmed in a week??? I'm in the wrong line of work.

Oh yeah, compared to the major releases on the PSP and DS, I can tell the dev time for Angry Birds must've been staggering. Must've been the stellar voice acting, or the cinematic cut scenes that don't move

 

[LagunaSol]

Oh yeah, compared to the major releases on the PSP and DS, I can tell the dev time for Angry Birds must've been staggering. Must've been the stellar voice acting, or the cinematic cut scenes that don't move

I can't wait to hear the sounds of anguish and fury when someone finally releases a "real" game for iOS, for the "real" game price of...$30.

 

[Wolfpup]

Ugh. You can't buy games for iOS, and the controls stink...it's not a legitimate gaming device, though it does have a handful of real games.

 

[JonHimself]

Ugh. You can't buy games for iOS, and the controls stink...it's not a legitimate gaming device, though it does have a handful of real games.

At first I was hoping you would clarify "you can't buy games for iOS" but now I'm kind of hoping you'll clarify most of what you said... except for "the controls stink" because... well.. it's your opinion, and you're not alone in thinking that.

 

[Dbrown]

I can't wait to hear the sounds of anguish and fury when someone finally releases a "real" game for iOS, for the "real" game price of...$30.

Thats not gonna happen because you cant make a real game for touchscreen. Touchscreens are good for simplistic games only, and you cant charge $30 for angry birds