This was passed on to me, and I have some rather strong opinions about what this is asking. I don't think there is any way the console is dying and I'll tell you why.
- According to this, Console sales are down 37 percent year over year. Besides the Wii U, which came out very recently, there hasn't been a new console since the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii in 2006. The reality of this is that there isn't an unlimited amount of people that want or need consoles. Numbers will decline because people in the market for these consoles get them, and then they have it. With the release of the Wii U and the upcoming releases of Microsoft and Sony's new consoles, that number will go back up.
- Even though it says retail video game sales have been down 25 percent, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 (both of which came out in late 2012) have set records with the amount they've sold. Besides, the bad economy can't be helping the overall sale of video games.
- "Gamers are playing more on mobile devices." Well without even going into the stats, this is another one that seems easy to explain. Games on Mobile devices are very cheap, combine that with their ability to be played anywhere and everywhere and you should start to see why they're played so much. These can be played on road-trips, work commutes or even at home, the possibility is endless. A console needs to be played at home; I don't think mobile gaming is replacing consoles, I think they're just more convenient to play where a console can't be played. To add to that, mobile games (with a few exceptions of course) can't really touch the depth of what console games can bring to the table. For the real gamer, control schemes can be strange and hard to handle on a mobile device as well (I'm looking at you, Grand Theft Auto).
- "Gaming consoles are no longer used primarily for gaming." 40 percent of XBOX activity is streaming through Amazon or Netflix. On top of that, half of all Netflix subscribers watch through a console. I don't think that anyone would just buy a console strictly for Netflix. Yes, it's a great perk of having a console, but it's more to enhance the experience, rather than take away from games. Before Netflix, when people needed a break from games, what did they do? They turned off their console and sat down in front of the TV to watch a show or movie. Netflix is no different, it's just conveniently on your console now. I doubt it takes any more time away from playing games than TV used to before Netflix.
