Many will fondly look back at their times as a child playing on their favourite handheld device through the ages, whether that be the GameBoy and GameBoy colour for the slightly older audience, the PSP and Nintendo DS, or even modern options like the Nintendo Switch – and whilst the Switch continues to be one of the biggest dedicated platforms in the world, it certainly seems like a bit of a far cry from the handheld devices of old. But have changes in mobile tech in particular dashed the hopes of those looking to find a resurgence of the handheld market?
On the one hand, it’s easy to look at other dedicated markets that could have considered to have done the same namely with consoles and PC’s – whilst the customisability and the utility of the PC is undeniable there’s still a huge dedicated console market largely because of ease of access and the lower cost of the dedicated platforms themselves, but they also fill very different roles – even as popular titles move across as had been seen within the Call of Duty esports space which was once a console classic but has since moved across to PC as a call of duty review at esportsbetting.site shows, but has done little to impact the CoD scene on console.
(Image from whattopack.com)
The other hand looks at the mobile market as a whole – unlike consoles and PC’s, we all have a smartphone that travels with us wherever we go, and with the ability to simply hop in and out of game there’s little need to carry around an extra device, the same was true for music at one point as it wasn’t all that long ago many would carry around an iPod and their phone at the same time, but with changes to mobile options it no longer became needed. In the same vein, why carry around a handheld gaming device as well as your smartphone when you can do both in the same place? Particularly when that choice could save you hundreds of dollars on the dedicated console and hundreds over the course of ownership on games too.
It may not be all that long until our devices are able to play more complex titles and evolve further than they already have, as that’s the only market left that mobile is yet to fill, but it’s pretty safe to say other than the one exception in the Switch we may not be seeing and big handheld options for quite some time – particularly if mobile continues to evolve at the pace that it is. Even more so, it may not be long until fans see the end of dedicated consoles as a whole if mobile really is able to catch up and bridge the gap much like it did with handheld, and much like many experts suggest will be inevitable in the coming years too.
