A prominent figure within the gaming industry has speculated that the current crop of handheld consoles may only have three years left in them.
Takuro Yamashita, President and CEO of NIS America, spoke to Market for Computer & Video Games (MCV) about the current console transitional phase affecting developers. He said that while now is the right time for people to be shifting focus towards the Xbox One and PS4, the handheld consoles could soon be following suit. Both the Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita launched way back in 2011, though it’s common for portable consoles to have a longer market lifespan.
Yamashita said he believes that the current crop of handhelds will “fade out in the next three years”, though there is still a purpose for them in the current market. “I bet you that the small publishers can benefit without having strong competition if they continue to publish games for Vita and 3DS,” he said.
While that is promising news for current owners, it still doesn’t answer the question of what we should expect when then the current generation gets replaced. With mobile gaming becoming increasingly more prominent, perhaps the long-rumoured Nintendo smartphone could become a reality after all?
Via MCV