Console games "dying" - Angry Birds dev
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."