CONSOLATION PRIZE
Console gaming numbers have always fluctuated up and down, but home consoles do seem to be steadily trending downward as the costs associated with them increase. The peak of console gaming occurred around the turn of the millennium, with Sony’s PlayStation 2 smashing every record to sell a whopping 150 million units. By comparison, the PlayStation 4 has only sold around 95 million units in the five-plus years since its release, while the Xbox One barely managed a measly 39 million. Nintendo dominated the handheld console market, with the Nintendo DS managing to match PS2-tier sales figures, and the Game Boy and Game Boy Color before it both topping 100 million units sold.
The rise of gaming-ready smartphones has hammered the handheld console market, though. The strange home-handheld hybrid Nintendo Switch has seen a modicum of success, but why bring a bulky handheld console with you to play Fortnite on your lunch break when you could just do it on the phone that’s always in your pocket? Home console sales aren’t exactly decreasing— they vary significantly, spiking around Christmas time every year—but they’re not rising either. Sales rates held mostly steady last year for all three major home consoles on offer right now (PS4, Xbox One, and Switch).
Elsewhere, Valve reported an $800 million rise in profits from Steam sales revenue in 2017, while digital sales of home console games continue to struggle—indicating, perhaps, that serious gamers are slowly but surely making the switch to PC gaming. Streaming solutions do offer a potentially strong option for casual gamers; a cheaper barrier to entry, less required hardware, and no lengthy downloads or updates mean that services like Stadia could provide a more accessible way to play games—particularly if they expand on to smartphones.