Console games "dying" - Angry Birds dev

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 14 March, 2011

Innovation now in mobile and social games.

Console games are "dying".

That's the stark assessment of the maker of one of the most popular mobile games – Angry Birds.

Innovation has moved from console games into mobile games, Rovio boss Peter Vesterbacka told a panel at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, reported by Venture Beat.

Mobile developers are more "nimble", he said, and able to upgrade their games with new content quicker than creators of big budget console games.

Angry Birds, which costs 59p for the full version or nothing for the free version, has been downloaded over 100 million times.

A PlayStation Network version of Angry Birds launched earlier this year. Nintendo 3DS and Wii versions are planned.

During the panel Vesterbacka said he was tired of the phrase "casual games", and complained that no one talks about "casual movies".

The mobile/casual game versus console game debate heated up during the Game Developers Conference this month when Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata expressed his fears over the future of "high value" games.

His keynote was seen by many experts as a thinly veiled attack on Apple's App Store - and the many thousands of games available to download from it.

"A few games do become mega-hits, but it's not easy," he said. "With such competition, even being noticed is extremely difficult - huge investments promise nothing. Now, consider this. The corresponding number of games available to download from app sites is in the tens of thousands. Game development is drowning."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (88) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • RobotRocker #1 1 year ago

    Big talk for someone who nicked the gameplay from Boom Blox and Crush The Castle for their iPhone game. Industry self-cannibalization, lol.

  • McBradders #2 1 year ago

    Dude has no right in saying that whatsoever.

  • SteelPriest #3 1 year ago

    Angry Birds dev "talking crap" - SteelPriest.
    Edited by SteelPriest at 14/03/11 @ 10:54

  • uk-kob #4 1 year ago

    i cant see the appeal of games like angry birds, cut the rope ect, there so boring! the only game i really enjoyed on iphone was game dev story.

  • silversun #5 1 year ago

    My view of this -I think pc gaming is more likely to kill off console games than mobile devices, as it is a different type of game experience.

    Ok i need expand upon this post in case people thought i was not serious, with services like steam i think more games will go digital and pc is the platform for that atm because the storage space just is not there on consoles atm, cloud gaming may change that but im not sure.
    Anyway consoles are still good atm but maybe not in next few years.
    Edited by silversun at 14/03/11 @ 14:13

  • captain_Carl #6 1 year ago

    Ha, what an idiot

  • Ryze #7 1 year ago

    WRONG.

  • MisterFalseName #8 1 year ago

    Innovation and Angry Birds shouldn't really be found in the same sentence, imho.

  • ZeroAX #9 1 year ago

    yeah right. Innovation has moved on to mobile phones and facebook. Only most of those games that appear on those platforms are rip offs of big console games, and those who aren't, are rip offs of the true innovative industry, the PC indie game industry.

    Oh snap!!!

  • Widge #10 1 year ago

    Innovation? In the mobile game industry? Where the innovation appears to dump the word Doodle in front of your apps game title in the hope that it gets some sales? Or churn out a Bejewelled clone or running survival game?

  • Arsecake_Baker #11 1 year ago

    'It's not pinin'! 'it's passed on! This console is no more! it has ceased to be! 'it's expired and gone to meet it's maker! it's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't invented CoD 'it'd be pushing up the daisies! 'its internal Logarithm's are now history! 'it's off the carpet! it's kicked the bucket, 'it's shuffled off it's mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-CONSOLE!!

    /gets coat!

  • MadCaddy13 #12 1 year ago

    Fuck you angry birds!

  • GamesConnoisseur #13 1 year ago

    People always goes on about PC gaming dying or not what it used to be, consoles finished, mobile will never takes off etc etc

    Hello, maybe theres room for all?!

    I loves iPad and iPhone gaming, but i also goddamn enjoy the more time consuming and contents rich of full blown retail games, so what if this is an envrionment suited to only the large studios and publishers as now apparently mobile gaming better suited to small studios?

    Its horseshit that you must take sides, why not enjoy them all? A lot of my consoles owing friends plays mobile games and also owns PC!

  • finty13 #14 1 year ago

    This guy obviously hasn't looked at the lineup of console games for 2011. Console gaming is as healthy as its ever been.

  • woodnotes #15 1 year ago

    Isn't Angry Birds that QBasic Gorillas rip-off (from 1991)?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDc3ZEKl-Wc
    Edited by woodnotes at 14/03/11 @ 11:09

  • mcmonkeyplc #16 1 year ago

    HahahahahahHAHAHAH haha

    Hahahahaha hahah HA hahaa

    no

    Hahahaahahah hah haah hahhahaha

    Hahah ahahaahhha

    Ok, done laughing now. Make a game like Uncharted 2 or Mass effect on your mobile phone and then you can start to say shit like this.

    Till then HahahahahahahahahahahahaaHA

  • Kengro #17 1 year ago

    Bullcrap, facebook is long gone before consoles. And with a little luck it takes shitty games and mobile games with it

  • MavSkipper #18 1 year ago

    Devs makes Game
    Game makes Big Hit
    Big Hit makes Big Ego

  • richyroo #19 1 year ago

    Checks calender...............nope not April 1st.

    Joins mcmonkeyplc in rapturous laughter.

    Edited by richyroo at 14/03/11 @ 11:06

  • UncleLou #20 1 year ago

    Innovation? In the mobile game industry?

    There's a metric fuckton of innovative mobile games, it's like the DS was a few years ago.
    Just one example.

    Doesn't mean what the guy said isn't nonsense, but to dismiss mobile gaming is rather ignorant.

  • Widge #21 1 year ago

    There is a certain desperation or inferiority complex about all these claims for mobile phone games managing to offer full price console game experiences. They don’t. They do offer some great gaming experiences like Cut The Rope, Angry Birds, Flight Control, and those are perfectly fine and suited to the platform but they are nothing like the same experience you get from a fully fledged console title. This is fine though, they exist alongside each other, keep making both kinds of games and have a bit of harmony.

  • photoboy #22 1 year ago

    The success of Angry Birds was a fluke, it's not evidence of the death of console gaming or anything else.

  • chrisjm #23 1 year ago

    Innovation?
    or mass market for cheap and cheerful games.

  • ZizouFC #24 1 year ago

    Is he serious? Every couple of weeks, some industry big mouth comes out with a line like that, and it makes me wonder how out of touch with the gaming community these people are...

    Sure there's space for mobile/social gaming, but it's apples and oranges compared to console/PC gaming.
    Edited by ZizouFC at 14/03/11 @ 11:10

  • Moribundman #25 1 year ago

    "Edgy comedy dying" Michael McIntyre comdemns Stewart Lee/Doug Stanhope - says he is "where its at".

  • Flipper79 #26 1 year ago

    A great example of putting 2 + 2 together and getting 5. Mobile and social games HAVE to be innovative because of the platform and control restrictions and to stand out in a market where anyone can flog their crap. Besides innovative doesn't necessarily translate to good, and I'd argue, in my experience usually results in a poor game heavily reliant on it's USP rather than quality. The best games tend to be ones that take a tired but familiar format and improve on it with smaller innovations. Console games have far more scope to do this and from a technical viewpoint have the potential for far greater innovation if the desire is there from a developer, but the fact that few developers take that route in such a competitive yet potentially highly profitable, and heavily researched market speaks volumes.

  • mowgli #27 1 year ago

    Innovation in the mobile games industry IS more impressive than anything on the PC or consoles at the moment. This is just a fact. Remember he said INNOVATION. As great as your Mass Effect and Uncharted are they didn't innovate anything! The fact that devs are being limited to touchscreen means we are seeing some incredibly innovative things coming from them.

  • ChuckNorris #28 1 year ago

    That's absolute bollocks.

    Edit:
    There has never been a better time for indie games AND regular games on console. People quickly forget how much generic shit was released during all the console eras. I really irks me that the vast majority of gamers have created a gaming history in their minds that has nothing to do with reality. Games haven't gotten worse, we have. And so has our ability to feel the same way about games as we did as children and teenagers.

    The quality of regular games has on average greatly increased (Sega lovers disagree), and with it so has our expectations of games. We've come to expect perfection and will quickly call a game shit if it fails to meet these standards. There is no room for 4-7 scoring fully priced games today. At the same time XBLA and PSN (Steam for pc) have changed everything. They are offering great value and innovation for a much lower price. So shit games are quickly being reduced in numbers while a whole new playing field for smaller dev teams has opened. These are the good times.

    This comment reeks of smugness and ignorance. The arcade games of todays' consoles often hold more innovation in their title screens than in the entire library of top selling games on AppStore. (I love my iPhone)
    Edited by ChuckNorris at 14/03/11 @ 11:55

  • BOFH_UK #29 1 year ago

    I know I'm gonna get neg'd for this but... he's got a point.

    Home consoles are getting so expensive to develop for that fewer and fewer risks are taken and, frankly, those that are seldom find large audiences. The recent changes to mobile gaming (i.e. app stores) have levelled the playing field somewhat with very low cost of entry and a big audience willing to pay for content. Granted you're unlikely to make millions off a single game because of the low price point per title but it's more than possible to make a good living off mobile gaming.

    The problem, I think, is it's NOT necessarily a case of mobile gaming taking over. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo... all three could deliver the same opportunities to indie devs if they really wanted to. They've had a shot at it with indie Xbox Live titles, PSN titles and WiiWare but there's been no real concentrated effort to tap into this. Which is a shame really, there's so much potential there but I guess it's not going to happen this generation. The PC scene is, of course, better for independents but even there it's so hard to get recognised and one failure can doom a company.

  • elchongo #30 1 year ago

    lol
    this guy make a very successfull game, that is a rip off of other game
    (as my friend told me an avid hardcore flash gamer) sad isn'tit?
    and say the consoles games are doomed
    also most of mobile games are remixed version of old console games like 12 year olders
    and speak about Inovation?
    i would think that is the equivalent of a guy creating a very successful 1 row strip comic
    and told the world about the end of the novels

  • FortysixterUK #31 1 year ago

    If they are dying it's because they are too sodding expensive.

  • Co_Starring #32 1 year ago

    One thing that makes me go back to PC gaming time and time again is the lack of decent controllers for consoles.
    Mouse/keyboard setup for shooters/rts games etc.
    I don't care about mobile games, so...

  • spekkeh #33 1 year ago

    I think Bobby Kotick wets his pants laughing when he sees Rovio's financial report.

    And no doubt Hiroshi Yamauchi would try to run him over if he'd cross the path of his diamond encrusted golden wheelchair.

  • persus-9 #34 1 year ago

    I loved Angry Birds as much as the next man but as RobotRocker has pointed out it's derivative as hell. Big disc based console games do seem to be in a little bit of a rut at the minute innovation wise but if you want real innovation then PC, XBLA and PSN seem to be the places to look. Phone based games strike me as basically the same wonderful little flash games we've been enjoying for years put on a phone, the only thing that's really new is they're directly monetised now which is a double-edged sword if ever there was one.

  • Xboxfanuk #35 1 year ago

    We were told consoles were dead after the Atari 2600. Then Nintendo came along and broke consoles into the statosphere. Something like 25 years later consoles have outstripped PC's as the prime launch platform.

    The fact that Rovio is releasing Angry Birds on every device imaginable means they see value in those platforms. Just like in every other medium Video Games will exsist on consoles, iOS, PC's, and anything with processing power and a screen. Nothing is dying, it's just the industry growing into new areas all the time.

  • Subdominator #36 1 year ago

    Stupid developer trying desperately to get even more stupid investors to give them money.

  • Ranger101 #37 1 year ago

    Never believe your own hype.

  • paulf #38 1 year ago

    mmm the sales figures for cod and pokemon might argue that. Also isn't the iphone just a console in a different form? As for innovation in phone titles yeah maybe with the pricing plan. What he also has to realise is that Angry Birds is a flash in the pan, a freak, lets see how their next ip does

  • TheApologist #39 1 year ago

    Guy who makes thing says his thing is better than another thing some other guy makes.

    Guys justification is he made his thing recently. But other guy says people have liked his other thing for ages, and besides, there's loads of guys making stuff recently no-one cares about. I reckon that both guys should admit that some people that like one guy's thing also like the other guy's other thing, and there are lots of people who don't like their thing and only like the other guy's other thing.

    I think the guy and the other guy with their respective things should learn to get along.
    Edited by TheApologist at 14/03/11 @ 11:25

  • menage #40 1 year ago

    Go back to your stupid bird game. Like I would ever prefer it over my big ass screen.

    And a general iPhone sub is also quite expensive. I don't need a expensive phone to call my mother, so I'll stick with my old school phone and buy games:p.
    Edited by menage at 14/03/11 @ 11:31

  • woodnotes #41 1 year ago

    @BOFH_UK
    "They've had a shot at it with indie Xbox Live titles, PSN titles and WiiWare but there's been no real concentrated effort to tap into this."

    Seriously? XBLA is brimming with awesome indie titles. There's far, far more awesomeness I want to play on there than there is on my iPod Touch. Not to mention there's also a good slab of stuff on Xbox Indie Games too. Really don't know what the hell you mean about "no concentrated effort to tap in to this" when 360 launched with XBLA at day one for this very reason.

  • uknortherner2000 #42 1 year ago

    He is correct in saying there's little innovation in the console market where a dev goes in with only two things on their minds: Paid-for DLC and a million sales.

    However, he is incorrect in suggesting that there's real innovation in mobile gaming. A cursory glance at the Ovi Store (and android/App Store) shows a lot of match-three/hidden object/dress-up type games being churned out on a daily basis. Fuck all innovation there. Angry Birds is a lot of fun - I play it a lot, but it's hardly innovative. Gaming in general has stagnated this generation as publishers look to milk every last penny out of the cash cows... er, sorry, consumers.

  • vyseofhr #43 1 year ago

    Ha lolwut

  • Kami #44 1 year ago

    Innovation on mobile and social gaming? From what I can see someone has a good idea and within a couple of weeks people are knocking it off. It takes time before devs in the console market can rip off other games - it's a slower process.

    That isn't to say console gaming doesn't have its problems right now - it's a slower market than what it used to be, and it's gotten itself into a bit of a FPS rut. But to say that the mobile industry has more innovation is, quite frankly, as hilarious as it is wrong. Yes, it has innovation - so does the console industry, the indie market etc. It's out there - but the mobile industry has more than anyone else taken to blatant and wholesale theft of intellectual property and ideals. It's a faster market - which means less time to truly innovate, because you're too busy milking your 15 minutes to really care about it.

    I don't like knocking the mobile gaming industry because I know it's a thriving world, but to hold it up as a paragon of how to do stuff is just pants-on-head idiocy. Angry Birds wasn't as original as it could have been, but fair play - it was packaged and marketed right. Congratulations. But there are dozens more failing in your shadow, plenty more who make good games that never get the credit they deserve...

    That's hardly a market or a legacy to be proud of.

  • frycrayola #45 1 year ago

    We don't talk about "casual movies" because we have the term "directed by Michael Bay" for that.

  • nnepveu #46 1 year ago

    He doesn't know what he is talking about, mobile games can never be as deep as console games. Every week there is some exec from some company talking about how "console gaming is dead", or "single player games are dead", etc.

  • HandOfBeadle #47 1 year ago

    No we don't call certain movies 'casual'. We call them 'shit', or 'trashy', or 'throwaway', or 'dumb'. At best, 'mindless fun'.

    If he had in any way innovated by making Angry Birds then his words might carry more sway. The only reason he's famous is because the cutesy presentation caught on with the masses, who were suddenly exposed to an old type of gameplay that had already proven itself to be very addictive in the past (in several iPhone games for example).

    Ultimately this is like listening to thoughts on where social media is headed from the guy who filmed Charlie Bit My Finger.

  • IronCladChicken #48 1 year ago

    Mobile games developer promotes mobile games shocker!

  • StolenGlory #49 1 year ago

    "Innovation now in mobile and social games."

    Yeah because Angry Birds, Angry Birds Christmas, Angry Birds Valentines Day and Angry Birds St. Patrick's Day all subscribe to this mantra don't they?



  • Gastrian #50 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Neil__ #51 1 year ago

    @MavSkipper
    "Devs makes Game
    Game makes Big Hit
    Big Hit makes Big Ego "

    That's exactly the problem here.
    He has somehow confused being very lucky with being very talented.
    Angry Birds has hit the big time purely by chance as it has nothing even the slightest bit new or innovative about it.

    A Mass Effect, Civilization, or Half Life this is not.
    Time for this guy to come back down to earth.

  • marmaduke #52 1 year ago

    Angry Birds really isn't very good. Beating the so-called 'puzzles' is a pretty random process and the scoring is intractable. More to the point I'm guessing they just whipped up an Objective-C port of Box ( 2D http://www.box2d.org/ ) and stuck some unremarkable graphics on top.

    If this is the future of games it is very, very depressing.

  • TerryTate #53 1 year ago

    I'm with BOFH_UK, the guy does have a point but he's being misconstrued by a lot of people. The number of console games being released is shrinking each year, down from a peak in 2008 (I did have a source on this but can't find it). Large franchises (COD,GTA etc.) will always sell but as the costs of both development and marketing increase it becomes an increasingly risky proposition to develop and market a 'traditional' console game that isn't part of one of these 5 million+ sellers.

    I don't believe that things will change too drastically until the next console cycle begins (2014-2015). How do MS, Sony and Ninty convince players to shell out a large amount for a new console when fewer and fewer games are being released for it. On top of this more and more franchises will have a free-to-play 'arm' of their franchise (a la Battlefield) to satisfy the the more casual end of their huge fan base and provide a steady income without the retail overheads.

    Also, most people envision Google and Apple creating some type of 'box' that sits under the telly and runs the downloaded games and apps you've bought for your iOS/Android device and let's you access the raft of F2P games that have now emerged.

    It's not a rosy picture for the 'traditional console game' at the moment I don't think and those people looking forward to 2011(or worse 2012)'s 'New Awesome Game Franchise TM' shouldn't hold their breath.

  • Ryze #54 1 year ago

    The mobile/casual game versus console game debate heated up during the Game Developers Conference this month when Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata expressed his fears over the future of "high value" games.

    His keynote was seen by many experts as a thinly veiled attack on Apple's App Store - and the many thousands of games available to download from it.

    "A few games do become mega-hits, but it's not easy," he said. "With such competition, even being noticed is extremely difficult - huge investments promise nothing. Now, consider this. The corresponding number of games available to download from app sites is in the tens of thousands. Game development is drowning."

    JUST DROP THE FUCKING PRICE OF YOUR NON AAA GAMES BY £10-15! FUCKWITS.

  • Caimbeul #55 1 year ago

    Angry Bird developer talks b0llocks

  • BuddyChrist #56 1 year ago

    @Uk-cob

    Spot on.

  • coolbritannia #57 1 year ago

    hahahahahahahahahaha. what a moron.

  • shikz #58 1 year ago

    NOOB DEV...what a nub lol to say console games are dying ....MORE LIKE PC GAMES due to high piracy and rushed game content with next to no patch support for most pc games .. LOL'd so much tho when seen this news title ..angry birds haha

  • mossychops001 #59 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • spudsbuckley #60 1 year ago

    Yeah, the future of gaming is surely in shovelware, Flash game knock-off, good for 5 minutes titles.

    Ugh.

  • Cronan #61 1 year ago

    What a fucking troll.

  • TerryTate #62 1 year ago

    @Ryze. Who's share of the sale is this 20-25% going to come from? If it's the retailers then they're not going to stock it, if it's the publishers they're not going to distribute it and if it's the developer they're not going to bother making it?

    This is the whole issue, the current way of making console games is unsustainable unless you are a sure fire hit.

    EDIT: Also I don't believe he's saying that Angry birds is innovative itself, he just saying that their isn't room in the traditional game market for innovation because the investment required is too large and the risk too high.
    Edited by TerryTate at 14/03/11 @ 12:46

  • Retro_ #63 1 year ago

    He is wrong, Mobile games are at best, a small distraction. Now, the NGP (PSP2) is another matter altogether.

  • sega #64 1 year ago

    This is absolutely ridiculous. I can see the appeal of Angry Birds - it's cheap and it's fun to play when you're on the train, but doesn't he realise there are different gaming markets? If you enjoy playing a game in your living room on a big screen tv, perhaps an in-depth adventure or something along the lines of GTA4 - are you really going to swap that to flick some birds at things on a phone?

    To be honest, I find both appealing. I like phone games that are simple and don't require much thought - I usually play them when on the move and want something that I don't mind turning off suddenly should there be a distraction (i.e. friend turns up to meet you or a sudden change of train). I don't touch the things when I'm at home, though - I barely ever play games on my phone when I have a better alternative. The fact is lots of people have phones and they enjoy simple games when they're out, but they'll NEVER replace console games.

  • sfp_noodle #65 1 year ago

    LOL!

    That is all.

  • TonyHarrison #66 1 year ago

    All these stories about the app store supposedly taking over despite minimal financial return compared to console games just screams "if I keep saying it one day it will be true".

    The trouble is, that rarely actually works. But hey, if burying their heads in the sand gets EG (and others) a few extra hits, then why would they dig themselves out?

  • BOFH_UK #67 1 year ago

    @Woodnotes: "Really don't know what the hell you mean about "no concentrated effort to tap in to this" when 360 launched with XBLA at day one for this very reason. "

    XBLA was indeed there from day one but the indie section is a relatively recent addition (community games launched in November 2008 I believe) and has always been treated a bit as the red-headed stepchild by Microsoft. Certainly it was shifted away from the main XBLA titles in December 2010 and into Speciality Shops only to see such a huge outcry that it got shifted back less than a week later. There are also a number of restrictions that can have a significant impact on what games can be offered (nothing over 150Mb, anything over 50mb MUST be 240 points or more, 8 minute trial period only, no achievements, no gamercard access) and developers get the same 70% split as, say, the Apple app store offers but only get paid quarterly.

    But even then Microsoft really don't do a great deal to promote this resource perfering instead to focus on XBLA titles. That's what I mean by making an effort to tap into this resource, they've provided tools for independents to get on the console but they're definitley a looooong way down Microsoft's list of priorities.

  • cherryuk #68 1 year ago

    what?!! Get real, console games are here to stay my friend. They were here years before phone games were ever invented. How can you compare The Last Guardian to Angry Birds?

  • kangarootoo #69 1 year ago

    "and complained that no one talks about "casual movies"."


    Well, they sort of do. They just use different names, like "summer blockbuster".



    "I think pc gaming is more likely to kill off console games"

    My eyebrow could not possibly be raised any higher.

  • 32768Colours #70 1 year ago

    During the panel Vesterbacka said he was tired of the phrase "casual games", and complained that no one talks about "casual movies".

    Yes they do! People separate throw-away (but fun) entertainment from serious entertainment all the time, in every art form there is!

    Or is this guy really suggesting that the film industry, critics and movie fans alike view the likes of Crank or Fast and Furious on a par with Laurence of Arabia, or Schindler's List? If the term casual and hardcore were applied to the film industry I'm pretty certain where I'd place these films. And just like "core" and "casual" gaming, I think there's a place for all of them in the right context. A few beers with your mates, and Crank is a good laugh, but if you want something a bit more cerebral, there are films that will only ever appeal to people who appreciate the finer elements of film making.

    Anyway, the whole arguement is moot, because I'd say the past 30+ years of gaming in general has proven time after time that there's more than enough room for consoles, home computers and mobile devices to all find the own successful niche. In mant respects its inevitable, as the 3 sectors broadly cater to different consumers or different gaming requirements.

    The gaming nut with £2500 PC rig may well buy the 360 version of a multi-plat game if all his mates are buying that format and he wants in on the multiplayer, but otherwise, they're going for the full-bore (and cheaper) PC version. They might even buy both! However this same person may just as happily pick up a bunch of 59p games to play on his daily commute.

    Whilst Angry Birds was selling millions, did it really stop BLOPS becoming the biggest selling game in history? Of course not, because there's space for everybody.

  • makeamazing #71 1 year ago

    Facebook games and mobile dev is just the next gold rush imho... sooner or later once loads of companies have released stuff, and then there is even more shovelware there will be no money to be made from it, the next set of consoles will come out and companies will move back to that... its a normal cycle...

    There are going to be a lot of unhappy companies out there in the next couple of years if they think they are going to make millions from facebook and iphone games only. Angry birds dev was just lucky.

  • stoopidgreg #72 1 year ago

    Guy who made millions from unashamedly ripping off a popular flash game (Crush the Castle) should not talk about innovation and creativity, he should STFU or forever look like a complete asshat.

  • Stop-gap #73 1 year ago

    Oh noes! Now I'll have to put my dead consoles with my dead PC so they can be dead together with no games :(((




    Or not.

  • RodHull #74 1 year ago

    The innovation came for the likes of Angry Birds was surely from Nintendo releasing the DS?

  • mcwildcard #75 1 year ago

    I have angry birds on my phone AND I have Killzone 3 in my PS3.
    Imagine that, I utilised my freedom of choice to have both, BOTH!

    Just because mobile gaming is taking off, doesn't mean people are going to sack off their home consoles.

  • apoc_reg #76 1 year ago

    Save us from a world full of angry birds!

  • knightmt #77 1 year ago

    Hopefully mobile gaming will have a good effect on console gaming, but I think it is the other way around personally. Another five years and we will probably be playing 360 and PS3 emulators on mobile platforms. I do not think console gaming will diminish even if AAA titles dwindle the user base is massive and the dedication is there.
    p.s. isn't a mobile platform the definition of a console?

  • Bander #78 1 year ago

    Just continue to not acknowledge the existence of Angry Birds on Nokia phones, even though this story comes from a panel where a Nokia rep was also talking (and actually disagreed with Vesterbacka on this point, even though there's now been 5 years worth of Nokia phones supporting TV-out).

    World Exclusive Angry Birds 3D Spectacular

  • Kaminari #79 1 year ago

    In other news, there has never been a better time to be a core gamer.

  • Mr_Brown #80 1 year ago

    I could list the countless innovative and immersive console games of this generation (Ds and Psp included) but I won't waste my time. The iPhone has little to no innovation, if it's not a port of a console cassic it's just a simplified game based off an idea(s) from popular console games. I'd argue there is little to no innovation in iPhone games.

    I'm sure there are people who IOS games but seriously doubt they would give up their consoles to just play iPhone games. I'll never buy iPhone games simple due to the controls and the fact that most are incredibly shallow.

  • Quak #81 1 year ago

    Here we go again. A 59p game that you play whilst taking a shit doesn't compare to a AAA console or PC game. This guy needs to get over himself.

  • rickimalone #82 1 year ago

    Rubbish. I'd happily trade every mobile game in the land to play 2 or 3 AAA Console titles every year.

    Fact, we had Tetris and mobile gaming (GAMEBOY) a good 20 years ago, and much the same was said then as it was now.

    Angry Birds, while fun to pass time on the train, does not deliver the gaming satisfaction and 'wow' that you get from

    God of War
    Uncharted
    Halo Reach
    Gears of War
    Forza
    Heavy Rain
    Batman AC

    'Console gaming dying', Meh - it's better than ever.

  • man.the.king #83 1 year ago

    @frycrayola

    "We don't talk about "casual movies" because we have the term "directed by Michael Bay" for that."

    That's for boys.

    For girls, we have Catherine Hardwicke :)

  • man.the.king #84 1 year ago

    @kangarootoo

    "They just use different names, like "summer blockbuster". "

    Well, now, that's a bit of a blanket term there.

    Inception was a summer blockbuster too - you wouldn't call it casual, would you? :)

  • mumblyjoe #85 1 year ago

    So in other words Angry Birds flopped on consoles

  • KungFuSpoon #86 1 year ago

    Breaking News this hour 'Our platform better then theirs' claims developer, more on that later. Coming up next 'Sky is blue and grass is Green' claim scientist now claim, and a new report suggests that death might be fatal, we'll have more on that later.

  • mark1 #87 1 year ago

    if Angry Birds was released as a full PS3 PSN title, as opposed to a PSP mini, I would have purchased it, but I don't see console gaming 'dying' anytime soon!

  • Noble6 #88 1 year ago

    Bollocks.