Are Video Games Doomed in Apple's shadow?

It seems like every day I log into my Twitter account I run into some kind of techie article claiming that Apple has seized the Video Game Industry due to the success of their portable devices such as the iPhone and iPad. Some go so far as to claim video gaming the way we know it will go the way of the dinosaur.

Now it would be ignorant to say that the landscape of game distribution isn't changing, and Apple is a key driver in that. However, I also think it's ignorant to say that people are choosing an Apple product as a gaming device over a gaming console or portable gaming system such as the 3DS or PSVita.

My point is, people buy iPhones because they want a high end cell phone, not because they want something to play Angry Birds on. The fact that there are cheap or even free games on the iPhone is just icing on the cake, but it's not the defining reason of the purchase.

The key factor most journalists are overlooking is that there are two different demographics at work here. For example, Nintendo has software that people buy their hardware for. That's their target audience, the gamer hobbyist. Apple's primary audience is the cell phone user. EVERYONE needs a cell phone, where as gaming dedicated hardware mostly only sells to gamers. So of course if you try to compare cell phone sales to gaming device sales the former is going to appear considerably dominant.

That's not to say Apple isn't consciously focusing on the gaming audience though. If you go as far as to compare digital downloads on smart phones to gaming systems you'll see that Apple has shown us that people are far more likely to take a chance on a game that's $.99 versus a $10-$20 download on a gaming system. The beauty of the cheap price point is that not only are you capturing the users who may have been specifically looking for a title, such as Angy Birds, but you're also getting lots of sales from Joe-waiting-in-line-at-the-DMV saying "ah it's just a dollar, why not?" And that adds up to some major sales. And I'm sure Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would like to get their hands on that cash too, but they'd be leaving a sizable chunk behind if they abandoned the core gamer in favor of supporting the dollar bin.

So are traditional video games "doomed" as some journalists like to put it? Maybe for Nintendo's casual audience that picked up a Wii for Wii Sports, but for the core gaming hobbyist I think things will stay the same for a long while to come.

Smart phone games offer plenty of time wasters, but nothing that can hold the attention of a core gamer. I know I'd much rather get lost in Skyrim than cut some flying fruit for a meaningless score.

The biggest change we'll see in the coming years are fewer smaller studios developing major releases. Why risk the money hoping you'll make the next block buster console title when you can invest a fraction of the resources and pump out numerous smart phone apps that won't break the business if some don't sell? I think the Skyrims, Call of Duty's, Resident Evils and the like are safe for years to come.

Part of that is discouraging though because it'll make for less new innovations in traditional gaming. I'm guilty of this too, it's just easier to drop your $60 on an IP you know and love instead of a new one.

Yes the landscape is changing, but I don't think we're looking at an apocalyptic future where Farmville, Angry Birds and the like are the only things to choose from. The core gamer still makes for a pretty considerate market share.

There's a lot to talk about on this subject that I haven't touched upon, I just wanted to tackle the rampant idea that Apple is killing video games as we know it. If anything they're forcing Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to look at the market from different a prospective. Competition is a good thing.

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have some things to think about, but it'd take one hell of a phone app to make me abandon my arcade stick and I don't see that happening any time soon. Video games are going to be just fine people.