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Consoles may not play a part in the future of the games industry, Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski has suggested, saying that he “sometimes wonders if we’ll find ourselves in a PC/Phone/Tablet future.”
“I’ll be watching the Wii U closely,” Bleszinski said during a Reddit AMA.
“I think Nintendo may have initially lost a little of their core with the Wii for a bit, honestly, and they seem to have realized this. I believe they also recognize that we live in a “multi-screen” culture hence the controller design. I played ZombiU at PAX and it was promising (even though the controls could use a little loving!) so we’ll have to wait and see.
“I sometimes wonder if we’ll find ourselves in a PC/Phone/Tablet future, honestly.”
Both PC and mobile platforms have gained significant market share in recent years and been praised for their innovation in both product and business models, such as free-to-play and community-driven models.
Some developers have also suggested that next-generation consoles could be designed to accommodate similar ideas.
Last week, Ghost Recon Online’s producer Theo Sanders told VideoGamer.com that future platforms will “evolve towards service models and towards being really online-driven, community-driven platforms.
“I think it’s one of the strengths of the PC platform and I believe it’s something that all console manufacturers understand to be a strength of the PC platform, and will definitely be looking for interesting and innovative ways to bring their own experiences to.”
Next-gen consoles will need to get here sooner rather than later, though, with Bleszinski labelling the difference between top-end PC titles and current console titles “startling”.
“The delta between the current crop of consoles and a high end PC is incredibly obvious now,” he said in reply to another question. “Looking at Hawken at PAX versus the other console games and this difference is startling.”
Neither Microsoft or Sony have yet announced plans for next-generation consoles.
