Is this the last console generation?

I don't think so. You always hear 'experts' say that tablet/mobile gaming is taking over but I think that's rubbish. You can't compare them.

Wow, no room for a less committal response? :(

There will absolutely be another generation of consoles, but as graphics keep getting better and better, it'll become longer and longer before we need a transition. We already saw the beginnings of that with how 7th gen ran deep into what we've come to think of as "overtime". 8th gen will probably go even longer.

Quite possibly, It will be up for debate due to a few Things, but when Experts say that consoles are dying, I am fairly certain it it "consoles as we know them" not the console experience.

A few thinks we will have tablets and such overtake it, which they might, but so far the tablets and phones have not shown hardware durability to mirror such use.

What we might see in 10 years, might be that most tvs will be smart tvs, each with enough processing power to simply just require something like "Playstation service" not unlike netflix, and a set amount of controller types supported.

I guess that would depend on how well people accept downloadable content, and how well tvs will Progress. In this sence consoles will not vanish like people fear, they will simply have been morphed.

Another possability would be if you look at the Steambox, not at what it is, but what it canpossibly be. A 3rd party constructed one size fits all console, Again with the different prior Hardware Companies offering services on said system instead. This will not be the death of consoles, but rather the beginning of a one size fits all, and media hub.

IF the consoles Sells as well as indicted I think we will see atleast another gen.

I honestly think it is especially given how long this last generation of systems lasted. But I don't see it crashing like it did after the Atari fallout. But I think there will be some sort of paradigm shift either to a streaming service but I'm sure but the "console war' as we know it, will change.

It's easy to say PS4/Xbox sold 1 million yeeaaahhh!! But look at the signs:

Lots of studios are shutting their doors or being closed by other companies after buyouts.

Big budget games like Tomb Raider selling 3 million copies but not making back production costs and now with bigger, fancier hardware, companies will be less likely to take risks with big budget AAA titles because they're too afraid to lose money. Publishers and developers need to start operating within a reasonable budget instead of blowing money on the highest end graphics engines and Hollywood celebs to do voices, focus on having polished gameplay, good content and replayability. But publishers would rather squeeze as much out of the hardcore by nickel and diming us with DLC, punishing us for buying used games and trying to enforce DRM which only punishes the honest people who bought the game legally.

The game industry has reached it's peak. It's too big and too corporate now. They're getting too greedy and this reached a head earlier this year with EA's SimCity Debacle and all that horrible DRM stuff Xbox wanted to do. There's a reason EA and Microsoft were doing such unfriendly consumer practices. They clearly see a crash or shift in the industry coming soon and they appeared to be taking a "take the money and run" approach. Also the big corporate shakeup at Microsoft where they did away with the gaming division, collapsing it into the entertainment division and even now, seem more focus on making the Xbox One a "media device" that happens to play games rather than a "gaming device."

And sure, while the hardcore gamers will run out to get the newest consoles, what about the rest of the masses? Many folks are content to game on tablets and smartphones and free browser games through Facebook. We act like this isn't a threat to us, but technology continues to improve and the mobile games will get bigger and more in depth, plus they're a good way for small studios to start out. They don't have to worry about used game sales.

Also, there's no middle ground. You have mobile cheapie games and big budget AAA titles with no middle ground. It would be like if the only cars on the market were tiny economy cars and high end luxury cars or if the only resturants were fast food and five star establishments.

PC gaming is now more user friendly. My husband has already made up his mind that he isn't interested in either PS4 or Xbox One. Why? Well we have a perfectly good PC. As the consoles start becoming more and more like PCs with updates and patches, why are we spending $400-$500 on something that acts like a more restrictive PC when we can put that money to upgrading our computer which we can mod, get cheap games through Steam and, it's backwards compatable. Plus, for those who think tinkering with things like memory cards, is tough. More and more, everything can be swapped in and out with ease almost like snapping Legos together. Aside from a few good exclusive games, what do consoles offer that PCs don't already?

So will there be a crash? Yes and no. It will probably not be like what happened in '84, but the way games are distributed will change. We may see the end of game centric stores like Gamestop and I agree with Maddie_Larkin about something like a streaming game service similar to Netfilx coming through smart TVs. When the Atari crash happened. People didn't stop playing games and games didn't go away. Those who had consoles were probably still playing them. A lot of folks were playing on their new home computers like Apple II but the crash actually affected stockholders and people working at places like Atari more than it hurt the consumer and the '84 crash occurred because the business had gotten too big and too out of control and it was waaay more poorly managed back then as well.

Think it may be the end of a traditional console generation but there will always be a place in the market for consoles. Yes this is spill over from the mobile market which we are already seeing with primitive devices such as the ouya, game stick, mojo, etc..

2 million next gen consoles sold and many many more to follow. I think there will be plenty of new consoles in the future.

Looking at the sales figures for console titles it's clear that this is where the companies are making the cash, GTA V sold 29+million copies on Xbox 360 and Ps3 and they still havent released it on next-gen or on pc, and this tendency is across the board, games just sell more on console and there is despite some peoples idea, less problems with piracy and people seem to buy the games.

So why would anyone assume this is the last gen? are people really thinking that companies like Activision, Rockstar/Take-Two , EA will stop making games for consoles and just making games on pc´s or go to f2p or mobile gaming or perhaps that Sony and Microsoft would stop making a console? Because they might stop making a "console" which is only used for gaming, because that is indeed obsolete but having a "box" that can also play games on that big screen most have in their living room is certainly not.

Another thing i can't figure out why anyone would assume "There can only be one" this is not highlander or some crazy religion, most people can handle more than one gaming platform and there are enough people in the world, so even if some can't there are plenty who can or choose consoles over pc or f2p/mobile gaming and reverse.

So as long as the above is happening and companies can make a profit i am sure there will "consoles" and someone making games for it. I can't see why not.

Hmm, you have some interesting points but also some strange conclusions.

Tomb Raider sold 3.4mill in the first month so its not a bad sales figure, the biggest problem is that some gaming houses think its all about graphics and showing off huge gorgeous sceneries which is not the case. So budgets might get bigger but its not because games cost that much more to make, its more down to devs and studios thinking that a game needs that to be successful. Which clearly isn't the case.

Also why would you think that pc gaming is more user friendly? i think if you go to most gaming forums you will read page up and down about crashes, games that run horrible, systems that are too old or to new. With a gaming system like a console, its either buying a game digitally or in a shop, throwing it in/starting the game and you're ready to play. And your husband might have a good pc right now, but wait 6months and its almost at the end of its cycle and needs upgrading.

So dont think there will be a crash , there might be a change in games to smaller budgets but it will still be for consoles.

Na

Nope. Not as long as there's a demand for gaming specific devices you don't have to worry about upgrading every 6 months to make sure it can competently play new games.

"Also, there's no middle ground. You have mobile cheapie games and big budget AAA titles with no middle ground. It would be like if the only cars on the market were tiny economy cars and high end luxury cars or if the only resturants were fast food and five star establishments."

This paragraph is so eschewed from the truth, it's not even funny.

Actually your whole rant is not as dire as you would like to think. There have always been plenty of studios getting shut down, it's just a sad fact of the gaming industry. I have no idea why anyone would think such news would be some sort of indication of the downfall of the console game market. Tomb Raider was in no way a commercial failure as you seem to be implying. What it didn't do was sell as much as was predicted; which if you didn't know, game predictions can be wildly off the mark (coughpachteryoulyingpieceofshitcough). The Tomb Raider reboot is to date the highest selling game in its franchise, which some would consider a success. While mobile games are really popular it is not a harbinger of doom for the console market, because the PS4 sold like a million in a single day. That fact alone negates your whole post about the direction the industry is heading towards.

"PC gaming is now more user friendly."

Compared to PC gaming at the start of the twenty-first century. But it is in no way more user friendly than console gaming.

"what do consoles offer that PCs don't already?"

A little something called stability. You can have a PS4 or an Xbone three years from now and not have to worry if the graphics card is compatible with the game you just bought. Also calling the Xbone a "media device" as a pejorative is an irony given your apparent zeal for PC gaming.

@Maddie_Larkin: Quite possibly, It will be up for debate due to a few Things, but when Experts say that consoles are dying, I am fairly certain it it "consoles as we know them" not the console experience.

Exactly. The key phrase is "console experience" which at its most basic is simply paying for access to a closed library of content. Hardware will always change, but as long as there is money in licensing, closed platform gaming will never go away. Money dictates the landscape, not technology.

PC gamers have been asking this question since the NES era. It's like a cute tradition by now.

No. It will never end. It may change forms into something else but we will always have machines that entertain us in the from of gaming.

nope, consoles will continue, there is a market for it. Just look at the sales numbers. They have never been more popular

I read this exact same post in 2001, and 2005. So I'm going to say it's likely going to be the same answer. No. You'll have plenty of people say it is so they can desperately hope to be right and point back at it as a sign of their credibility and foresight and not dumb luck though, I'm sure of that.

Spot on Ride , And randolph dont forget the more recent thread we had where someone had "analysed" that consoles would die.

It´s fun reading and it looks like those Doomsday preachers who keep seeing the end of time, but each time gets it wrong but just moves it a bit further, so at one point they will get it right.

If ALL of the consoles go the way of Dreamcast, THEN we have a discussion. But not when they are breaking records. Wii U might not be doing well but they still got games coming out for it and people will buy them. Everyone has called the death of Nintendo for the longest time saying Handhelds are dead. But they prove everyone wrong. Nobody wants to game on their phone, they want a dedicated experience and gaming has never been better than now

No, I don't see the demise of console gaming anytime soon. Mobile games are fun but it will never give a full blown experience like a game console, and there is still significant interest in that medium.

The people that say tablets are going to take over console gaming also thought DVDs would ruin movie theaters, or PC gaming would be extinct with PS3 and XBox 360. They're wrong every single time.

Depending on what "console" means it could be. I could easily see the next-generation of TV gaming being rooted in tablets or microconsoles that hook up to the TV. Whether those would be consoles at that point depends on your definition I guess.

If it lasts as long as the last one, most-likely. PC hardware prices are dropping like crazy. Tablets are getting close to the power of a laptop. But it comes down to software support. If Cod or which ever cult game is around in 10 years, is on a tablet, and with all these controllers coming out. Is there a reason to even buy a console then.

No I don't think this is the end of consoles.