Are consoles even relevant anymore for most gamers?

I came across this interesting graph (Source).

There we can see that 9% of gamers have absolutely no idea what a PS4/Xbox One/Switch is. Even the best represented console, the PS4, has a whopping 23% of gamers that have never ever heard about it.

Are people simply moving away from consoles? I can pretty much assure you that if you made this poll in the PS2 era 100% of the inquired individuals (or really close) would know what it was. It seems clear that phones and computers are starting to dominate the market. Do you agree?

The best games of this year are all exclusive to consoles, so yes

They are relevant and they will remain so.

I fully agree with that. But it seems that the gaming market doesn't.

The larger gaming market is comprised in large part of mobile gamers and free to play PC games. Console gaming represents a small fraction of that, yes. But that's because the larger market has expanded to go beyond just console gaming. It's how people who watch movies in theaters are a small fraction of the ones who watch it at home or on DVD or Netflix, but theaters are not irrelevant to the movie industry.

sure , they'll be relevant for gamers but It seems that casual gamers are switching to mobiles

Even if they havent heard of them. Innovations that take place in console gaming can affect PC gaming and mobile phone gaming.

Theaters are relevant because they are the best way for movie makers to make money. It doesn't matter that there are more people watching the movies on Netflix, that's not where most of the revenue comes from.

In this case though, revenue is intrinsically tied with the number of players. If people start ignoring consoles and focusing on the others markets, you can, and should, expect the whole gaming industry to reflect that. It's not just a coincidence that Square Enix for example has started focusing more and more on PC and mobile.

Last gen about 300 million consoles sold. This gen about 100 + million sold already so umm, yeah. PC's for gaming on the other hand, phfft, wouldn't hit a dog in da azz. lol :P

Still relevant...

Inferior.. but still relevant.

Xbox is irrelevant

PlayStation is at the forefront of culture.

all of them ?

is Hollow Knight exclusive to consoles?

or Torment: Tides of Numenera

what about Night in the Woods , ...

have you played battle brothers ...

No all U see are goddamn AAA games and their metacritic numbers

Mobile games? meh

Can't even call them "gamers" lol

Whether we like it or not, mobiles will take over more and more

Chill the hell out, no need to get so personally offended and agitated. You like those other games more, that's fine, you're entitled to your opinion, but this thread is not about your opinion, this thread is about the larger market

With no more exclusives out there, consoles are less and less important. The PS and Xbox are gonna be dead soon.

Nintendo, though

@T3H_1337_N1NJ4: what's irrelevant is this poll.

The poll data is skewed and probably wasn't targeted specifically at 'real' gamers. It probably included a bunch of elderly people playing solitaire on PCs or phones and counted them as 'gamers'.

So, you mean to say it is reflective of the larger gaming population?

They're not primary platforms for adult gamers. As a secondary they can be pretty cool but expensive. They can have a handful of amazing exclusives that make you buy them, but not as a primary platform. They're great for kids. And that's how I think most gamers begin: with a console as a kid.

Damn that Nintendo always foiling my stealth trolling. I need a spankin'.

lel

Hey, easy out: the Switch is a handheld for all purposes, so it doesn't count as a console either. Console gaming is well and truly dead.

OK , I'm sry , yes we are entitled to our opinions , but not entitled to our own facts , now explain to me what did you mean exactly when you said that "The best games of this year are all exclusive to consoles"

That for the larger market, which is what is under discussion here, the biggest, best games of the year are all exclusive to consoles. That's pretty self evident.

I think it depends who the graph represents. The article mentions 'gamers' but does this include casual gamers and non-enthusiasts such as those who primarily get their video/computer gaming fix from mobile devices and free-to-play Facebook games?

The relevancy of consoles is still very much intact among gaming enthusiasts who I think are a more relevant demographic to judge against the ongoing relevancy of consoles.

To answer the topic question, yes I think consoles are still relevant.

US consumers != gamers.

There are a lot more US consumers than there are gamers. Your entire premise if based on a misinterpretation of the data.

Plus now a days consoles offer free games with their online subscriptions. A big plus if you ask me.

@T3H_1337_N1NJ4: lol the Nintendo switch is flying off shelves in droves and you say what

@T3H_1337_N1NJ4 said:

I came across this interesting graph (Source).

There we can see that 9% of gamers have absolutely no idea what a PS4/Xbox One/Switch is. Even the best represented console, the PS4, has a whopping 23% of gamers that have never ever heard about it.

Are people simply moving away from consoles? I can pretty much assure you that if you made this poll in the PS2 era 100% of the inquired individuals (or really close) would know what it was. It seems clear that phones and computers are starting to dominate the market. Do you agree?

The poll tells Coolyfett that graphic\power whores are a minority group. Most people just want a basic console to plug and play.

HOT DAMN!! That Rocket League is soooo addicting! I just can't put it down.

Old buddy of mine met me for coffee.

He says: "Hey you're a gamer right? You should check out clash of clans!"

Me: "We're no longer friends."

The graph answers your own question. They are still very relevant.

exactly , ordinary people playing games on mobile while enthusiast keep playing on PC/Consoles , the thing is that the number of these ordinary people is far bigger than our hardcore gaming community

Would also add anyone who owns the Switch or 3DS is an enthusiast on the Nintendo side of the tracks. The 3DS sold a lof of units as well and those gamers are not casuals.

Yes. That's why you have a bar for general consumers and another one for gamers. I think you might have misread the graph.

9% of gamers have not heard of any of the above consoles ?

So what they are still convinced that PS3/360/Wii U is the latest gen ?!

Of course this is shared just for fun and games, but we are missing a lot of information to make any sense of this graph. Given that it's been shared several times now on SW I have to add my voice to those who are skeptical of this.

We would need information such as:

1) what was the demographic makeup of those who are self professed gamers? We need to be able to understand who is really in that group. The individuals we on SW typically would define as "gamers" are surely close to 100% aware of the PS4 and X1, for example. That is, people who play any AAA games at all on any platform probably have close to ceiling "awareness" of all major console brands.

2) we would further want to see the demographic breakdown PER RESPONSE CATEGORY. The presentation above is actually very worthless, because certain response categories can be dominated by specific subgroups of the sample. >13% of the US population is 65+. In theory (I don't believe this is even REMOTELY the case, but just to make the point...), 75% of the "none of the above" responses could be solely from that age group. Or, as others have noted, within the "gamers" subgroup 100% of that response category could be driven entirely by mobile-only gamers.

3) we need to know the sampling approach. All we have here is that 2000 "consumers", ages 13+ were polled. From where? Using what approach? I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate this is not a truly random sample, by its strictest definition, and therefore not going to be well-representative of the population.

I was trying to find that out, but I wasn't able to download the report.

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/us-games-360-report-2017.html#

Maybe you can try if you're interested?

I'm pretty sure that graph answers your own question. Troll much?

@T3H_1337_N1NJ4: it wasn't a knock on you, just a general complaint about the way these companies toss out half-the-story in graph form. I definitely don't have the time or interest to dig for it, since they don't want to make it easy to find, so I'll just have to live in ignorance :-P

Well, they have a big blue download button. The only problem is it doesn't work for me, no idea why.

Regardless, I think the cause for these "strange" values is that more people are identifying themselves as gamers, even if they're strictly casual mobile gamers.

For me yes. I doubt ill ever buy another console.

Well since I'm not interested in gaming on a PC I would say that consoles are most definitely relevant to me.

@xantufrog:

@T3H_1337_N1NJ4:

Don't forget, 73.6% of all statistics are bullshit anyways.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/736-of-all-statistics-are-made-up-2010-2

BS poll, if you're a gamer, and have never heard of these, you aren't really a gamer

All the consoles, especially PS4, are selling very well... so they still seem relevant to most gamers.

It's a crappy poll to draw clicks. Also I wouldn't call 23% whopping...a bit hyperbolic.

As long as consoles are a multibillion-dollar industry, they are relevant.

It's not a crappy poll, Nielsen does have a reputation.

Also, you don't think that 1 in 4 gamers having never heard of a PS4 is a whopping quantity? I certainly do.

Obviously....they still sell.