There's certainly been a great deal of discussion of late when it comes to whether or not the traditional gaming console might be getting disrupted right out of the industry (and your household), thanks to powerful developments in the mobile device world when it comes to gaming. Some feel the big guys — Microsoft (which will be releasing the forthcoming Xbox 720), Sony (with its upcoming PS4) and Nintendo (which just launched the Wii U) — are going the way of the record store (at least in the gaming world), whereas indie developers and mobile manufacturers will win the day in the end.
Then there are those, too, who feel the Xbox 720, PS4 and Wii U can't quite be written off, as gaming consoles might "migrate" — as DJ Spooky suggested to us in a recent interview — the way other technologies/industries have done in recent years when it comes to new developments in mobile manufacturing.
Ask Activision CEO Bobby Kotick what he thinks about the forthcoming Xbox 720 and PS4, though, and his answer will lie somewhere in the "much more uncertain" realm. He also finds the launch of Nintendo's Wii U to be downright "disappointing."
Activision was founded as the world's first indie game developer and distributor in 1979, and though it is American, the game publisher is owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. It has since become the number-one game publisher in the industry, with such record-breaking franchises as Call of Duty and Skylanders.
Kotick spoke at a recent company earnings call and brought up the Xbox 720 and PS4, with some rather bleak news for Microsoft and Sony.
"We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition," Kotick said, warning investors as relayed by Expert Reviews. "There are still many unknown factors, such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other, but also with new platforms, such as smartphones and tablets."
Nintendo didn't fare that much better, as Kotick criticized what he referred to as the Wii U's "very slow start" and poor performance that has been so "lackluster" that it has already seen $150 taken off its price tag since launching six months ago.
"All of these factors further heighten our concerns heading into the back half of the year," Kotick said, "particularly during the very competitive fourth quarter."
With mobile gaming having skyrocketed both in popularity and in performance since the launch of the Xbox 360 and PS3 nearly a decade ago, Sony and Microsoft (as well as Nintendo) will indeed have much to contend with when it comes to competition in the future.
Kotick nevertheless assured his own investors that Activision will "weather the storm," despite the fact that Activision has recently lost subscribers for its flagship World of Warcraft multiplayer online RPG. With continued Skylanders success and a bevy of new games coming out from its sub-studios, Activision may just make it through the "console transition" itself, whether that happens or not.
Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, on the other hand, might not be so lucky.
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