With the Nintendo 3DS and the Playstation Vita being the two biggest handheld systems out right now, judging from the sales of the 3DS, Nintendo has been very successful. Sony, on the other hand, hasn’t seen as much success with the PS Vita. In a way, Sony actually gave up on the Vita and stopped producing AAA titles for it. The Vita is a great little machine that plays many games very well, but it just didn’t sell as well as Sony had hoped. Hence Sony turned their attention more towards the Playstation 4. This brings up the question, what’s in store for handheld gaming in the future? Will Sony stop producing handheld systems because they gave up on the Vita? Will that make Nintendo the only company that focuses on handheld gaming? Nobody really knows but we can speculate.
The main difference now is that everybody has these smartphones in their pockets at all times. Nintendo recognized this and they are already starting to produce games for smartphones. This could lead to handheld systems that are dedicated for specifically video games to go extinct. Many people may see this as a negative thing because plenty of gamers love their 3DS and Vita. However in overall therms, this could be a step in the right direction for gaming.
Since smartphones are becoming the standard for cell phones, almost everyone has the ability to play games on their phone. There are plenty of games that can be played on smartphones now such as the Lego games, Star Wars KOTOR, Minecraft, Don’t Starve, Grand Theft Auto, Terraria, and many other good quality games. All of these games are great and are a lot of fun on the mobile platform. However, if video game developers take a path towards focusing on putting games strictly on smartphones, it can lead to a worrisome future. Many gamers already hate the model of pay as you play. Many mobile games make it so you have to buy in-game currency with real money, and this could lead to an endless cycle of spending money. Not only does this diminish the experience of the game, but it makes developers focus more on the money as opposed to just simply creating good games.
Handheld gaming being moved almost exclusively to phones can be a great thing. However, it would be great if all of these developers would not follow in the footsteps of the greedy mobile game developers. The standard model of publishing games, including DLC, can be kept intact even on the appstore. Many will gladly pay a hefty price for a game such as Pokemon on their smartphones.
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