Are consoles moving to an enthusiast market?

I made a similar post in another thread and it got me thinking. Are consoles moving towards a more enthusiast level category in gaming? Not to the level of PC of course, but an entry level or mid tier enthusiast category.

The Series X and PS5 are pretty beefy in specs, and both should play games amazingly well. PS5 is even promising 3D audio and no or minimal load times! How enthusiast is that?

I bring this up because of the shift to mobile and tablet gaming. My sister is an elementary school teacher, and she noticed while kids still play games, a lot of them play on tablets or smart phones....not on dedicated consoles. And as an industry we are seeing a push to game streaming services. Gone are the days of Kids playing Genesis and SNES for their gaming needs (and the playground arguments of which is better)

So as my topic name states, do you think consoles are moving to a mid or entry level enthusiast tier in gaming? With PC gaming being the top tier enthusiast level. Keep in mind casual would be streaming, tablet, and mobile phone gaming.

My gaming set up consists of a PS4 Pro (and other consoles) hooked up to a 4K HDR TV with a 5.1 surround sound system. I think that reaches a mid tier enthusiast level for gaming.

I'm not sure the tier system you're talking about exists. The console space basically remains the same as it has been the last couple gens.

Every new console generation has gimmicks. And I don't mean gimmicks in a bad way.

3d audio, powerful graphics cards, move from 2D to 3D, use of SSDs, rumble, analog sticks... all changes that moved console gaming forward.

@Telekill: I'm going to have to disagree.

With the PS2 generation I feel like everything was more plug and play. You had a CRT and AV cables boom that was it. There also wasn't a competing platform for games that took away from the console market. You had PC and handhelds, but now we have mobile phones and tablets that are without a doubt taking place the role traditional consoles used to have with younger kids/pre teens.

I think a tier system is definitely showing up in gaming, much like with Home Theater Set ups.

Casual Market: Sound Bars

Entry Level: All in one Box HT Systems

Mid Teir: $300-$600 AV Receivers with separately purchased 5.1 or 7.1 or above speakers.

Enthusiast: $1000 plus AV Receivers with speakers worth thousands of dollars together.

No. People will continue to buy consoles because they want to play games. And those people don't give a poo about enthusiast/entry terms.

I like your AV analogy, I consider myself an enthusiast but after buying a home became a casual with a sound bar. lol

Consoles are still plug 'n' play in the eyes of console gamers. Enthusiast will always be a thing on PC, console gamers don't care for such a term nor care about it on a next-gen console.

Nope, they are in reality moving closer and closer to the graveyard.

Hahaha!!! can you enlighten us with your magic thoughts of how is it so???

Or still uttering your BS as usual???

This is one reason I do not take naysayers seriously and with a grain of salt.

Regardless of what you and other naysayers say, home consoles are here to stay for many generations to come. They are not the next typewriter or VCR.

@onesiphorus:

Just one picture says it all :

Less than10% of all gamers base ( aka consoles ) generates 30% of all the gaming industry wealth!!!

Denial is strong with this one!!!

@Star67:

I think if they stick to their core gaming segment no platform can compete with them.

Mobile are in direct competition with pc rather then with consoles!!!

Their core gaming segment is based on f2p/p2p while the penetration of this economic model is at its infancy console wise.

68 Bn on mobile, 24.5 on pc and 1.6 Bn on consoles. So no worries.

On the other hand consoles have almost no competition on premium games since they generate the bulk of the money of that segment.

Out of the horse's mouth:

"If you look at the game industry as a whole, the console market is not a major market, rather it's a niche market, if you will," he commented.

Sony CEO: Consoles a 'niche market' within the games industry

But Mr Spencer said his "traditional" rivals Nintendo and Sony were out of step with the future of gaming.

Microsoft no longer sees PlayStation-maker Sony and Nintendo as the biggest competition for its Xbox platform.

What we see is a situation where we know that Nintendo Switch is being played in the open, at a park, on a metro bus.

Nintendo Doesn’t See Xbox or PlayStation As Competitors

Part of what is driving this is consolidation at the top. In the PC market the top-line firms have been growing at an incredible rate. Between 2013 and 2017, Activision grew its PC operations at +10 percent compound annual growth rate. EA’s was +30 percent, and Bethesda’s +36 percent. Meanwhile, the share of the top four public companies, based on PC gaming revenue, grew from 44 percent to 60 percent in that same period.

Source

Esports and MMO games are the obvious future of the video game industry, and Japan is starting to change the way it approaches both to maintain its position as a gaming heavyweight.

Asia-Pacific Holds the Largest Market Share

Some more context:

Top 25 Public Game Companies

EA boss: "the fastest growing platform for video games today is the PC"

PC passes PS4 to become Ubisoft's top revenue generator

Oh wait, I for for the trolling again because I already explained it here and then here.

Now go ahead, cry in a corner and remain in denial, as always by posting the NewZoo revenue chart with deliberately avoiding their classification on revenue in their fact sheet. I woon't be responding on derailing this thread as well.

By naysayers do you mean the CEOs of all 3 platform holders themselves?

Well the word enthusiast is just someone with heavy interest with that activity or subject.

So if you are really into gaming you are gaming enthusiast.

The tier system with PC hardware has nothing to do with consoles, sure you can compare the power but they are not the same thus can't use the same tier system because PC is a open platform that lets you decide the hardware and price you want to pay where as with a console its one unit with one price and set of hardware exclude future SKU's and storage variations.

Tiers are isolated to the platform... So if you have a Pro sure you can start calling your self a high end PlayStation enthusiast.

@pc_rocks:

Sure!!! a Niche market that generates the bulk of AAA gaming ( near 88% ) and 32% of all gaming industry???

Do you understand what niche mean... Really????

Because a CEO talks louder than MONEY...We all know that!!!!

Just for your information, the strongest YoY jump in 2019 was not mobiles, neither pc but consoles!!!

The wealthiest and healthiest gamers population ( in terms of spending ) is on consoles!!! 10% population = 32% market share.

The bulk of premiums wealth is from consoles!!!

With all of that, all you can come up with is some CEO saying Consoles are Dooomed???

Unless this industry can come up with a replacement for consoles lion's share, I don't see them going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

Crying for what exactly???

I've proved you wrong every single time!!!

Twisting facts and denial won't help. And the best thing to avoid this is you stop talking BS. Simple.

It's about dem games.

@sovkhan:That's an interesting take, however, I think all forms of gaming compete with one another because at the end of the day someone's time is being taken up by their platform of choice. (Streaming movies and TV also competes)

@Grey_Eyed_Elf: I kinda agree, but there are "Pro" versions of each console, some of them offer upgrade-able options, and they offer features that not everyone has access to like HDR, 4K, and Surround sound support. I think when someone puts in the time and money to get the most out of the console they enter closer to an enthusiast level of gaming.

Sure, but it seems to me that there's a lot of differences between these markets even if their boundaries could be fluctuating.

Pc and Mobile have more in common with regard to their gaming model than that of the console side.

I think therefore that they are more to attract people embracing that model.

That said this is a fluctuating market, what is important is growth and wealth.

While mobiles seem to stagnate a bit, both pc and consoles are growing ( +4% and +13% respectively in 2019 ).

I said I wouldn't reply but just this once I will. Because you keep regurgitating the same bullsh*t over and over again.

First it doesn't generate 88% for AAA or 32% of all gaming industry. Far from it. I already pointed it out previously but here let me spell it out again. The one chart you're talking about I already clarified in my reply to @NoodleFighter. They separated the revenue for P2P and Premium on PC but lumped it with together for consoles.

For the NewZoo Chart go and look at the Fact Sheet for their sources and definition of games. For game revenues they rely on Companies earnings report and in these reports MS and Sony lump all their revenue under the games category. For consoles it's all lumped together with PS+, Live, PS Now, PS TV, PS Music etc. That again I talked about in depth in the other thread for which you started to DC. Console games also include any game on a device that can be played on TV that includes all handhelds, consoles, devices like Shield, Android based cloud devices every manner of thing. So yeah, not apples to apples and not just strictly revenue from game sales. Removing Switch or any of the other contributing factor would make the chart a helluva lot smaller. The highest grossing company in gaming is a PC focused one.

And that too when, for the PC, none of the sources counted the revenue from ESports. That would alone make the world of a difference and is the fastest growing sector.

Oh and for the DC about CEOs. Yeah, I should believe a random ragging fanboy on an internet over the people whose life depends on these things and knowing what is working and not. The developers, publishers and platform holders all are wrong and but you are right.

All of that we haven't even talked about profits just revenue. Oh wait, you probably don't know the difference between the two. Nevermind those are way higher on PC because of lower cost of dev., distribution and marketing.

You wish you can prove me wrong, with each reply you just proved yourself to be ignorant, in denial and incapable of reading your own sources. So yeah keep crying and living in the alternate reality. Consoles are dying by any metric available. I for sure won't be responding now because at this point it will just be banging my head against the wall as Mark Twain rightly said: "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

No; the enthusiast market is on PC, and consoles are no where near as capable, diverse, or consumer-friendly as PC.

Nice try but talk is cheap, where are you sources and numbers for this claim ???

" For the NewZoo Chart go and look at the Fact Sheet for their sources and definition of games. For game revenues they rely on Companies earnings report and in these reports MS and Sony lump all their revenue under the games category. For consoles it's all lumped together with PS+, Live, PS Now, PS TV, PS Music etc. That again I talked about in depth in the other thread for which you started to DC. Console games also include any game on a device that can be played on TV that includes all handhelds, consoles, devices like Shield, Android based cloud devices every manner of thing. So yeah, not apples to apples and not just strictly revenue from game sales. Removing Switch or any of the other contributing factor would make the chart a helluva lot smaller. The highest grossing company in gaming is a PC focused one. "

And numbers and sources for this other claim :

And that too when, for the PC, none of the sources counted the revenue from ESports. That would alone make the world of a difference and is the fastest growing sector.

On point here :Cost effective certainly because most of it is virtual items like in f2p and P2p or cd keys while only 5Bn goes to the premiums!!!

All of that we haven't even talked about profits just revenue. Oh wait, you probably don't know the difference between the two. Nevermind those are way higher on PC because of lower cost of dev., distribution and marketing.

When you come to me with relevant sources, we will see how your numbers will drastically change the situation in your favor!!! /s

Until then, none of your point stands. Good Luck!!!

I won't be waiting here, Had already an appointment with you elsewhere, but you are nowhere to be found!!!!

Consumer friendly? having the ability to steal software is not "consumer friendly" its criminal.

@i_p_daily: Now now Daily, not all PC gamers are thieves. And besides, we have CDKeys to buy games for a low price.

I hope not. I wish consoles were even more plug n' play.