It's unclear what he's trying to say here. That he's going to start producing games like Peggle or Phoenix Wright or Locoroco for the handhelds?
He says they are still going to keep doing what they are doing, but they are now going to "Explore." What exactly does this mean? Does this mean Bioware plans to try to make cheap games now? Cheap does not necessarily = bad, but I understand why they wouldn't want to say this outright.
I hate it when these guys are vague and mysterious and make sweeping statements like this. I wish these people would just talk straight instead of trying to cover their asses with hazy proclamations that have a horoscope quality of prediction just in case they are wrong about a trend or new technology.
Also, I think he is wrong. I will make a clear and concise prediction about gaming in the next five years and future of console and casual gaming.
Yes, the casual market is going to continue to grow. It's clear that the internet connected society has taken to these easy to play fun little games. But the problem is, as every game developer opens up a casual gaming branch, the competition for the casual gamers money will be huge. Casual games take much less R&D to develop.
Eventually, the market for casual games will mimic the regular gaming market, and the top tier companies will be the ones making the money while a ton of developers will get lost in the milieu of casual games, because the casual gaming market has a pool of money that is limited, just like the regular gaming market.
For him to say the console gaming market is dead, is saying that there is so much money in casual gaming that all developers will flock to it and will prefer to make money there instead of with the gamers who want a deeper experience in gaming. That may be true at first, but eventually developers will figure out that it is just as tricky to make a profit with casual games as it is with triple A titles when there is as much competition as that.
His whole argument depends on gamers like me deciding that it is so much more enjoyable to play a game like Plants vs Zombies than a game like Fallout, Oblivion, Mass Effect, Metro 2033, or hell, even Mario. I just don't see that happening.
His argument also depends upon casual gamers being ignorant of quality. I don't think that is the case either. They will decide which casual games are better just as much as gamers who play things like Oblivion know the difference between Oblivion and Two Worlds.
Although it's not inconceivable that the dedicated gaming console will one day vanish, it will not be casual games and handhelds that deliver the death blow.
