Could mobile devices like smartphones and tablets eventually replace the need for dedicated handheld consoles like the Nintendo 3DS and the PS Vita? While Nintendo begs to differ, publisher EA seems to think otherwise. Speaking to the folks at Gamesindustry, EA’s COO, Peter Moore, explained why the company has started to move away from handhelds to mobile.
According to Moore, he claims that due to the fact that resources are limited that companies, such as EA themselves, have to think about the future and which platform gamers will be consuming games on in the future. He also cites how smartphones and tablets are getting more powerful with each release, resulting in better looking and more complex games.
“Sometimes strategy is not about what you do but what you don’t do, and you have to make some hard calls when you’ve got only so many people. To my point, we’ve got to be planning for FY 17 and 18. Do you think the Vita and 3DS are going to be around in some shape or fashion by then on a scale level?”
Those are some pretty compelling points made by Moore, however this is assuming that companies like Nintendo and Sony have no new iterations of the 3DS or PS Vita console in the next few years. At the same time, devices like the NVIDIA Shield seem to be the best of both worlds, offering up mobile game in a familiar form factor, but at the same time relying on the Android platform, but what do you guys think? Is EA right in shifting their focus away from handhelds to mobile?
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