Speaking at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit, Epic CEO and technical director Tim Sweeney predicts that the number of platforms for games will shrink down to three or four over time. Sweeney said that consumers have many choices for gaming platforms, including tablets, PC, smartphones, Mac, consoles and new handhelds, reported GI.biz.
“This is too many platforms. We're seeing now iPad sales have surpassed the sales of PCs. This is a real revelation, this is a product that wasn't invented until a few years ago and its basically supplanting personal computers,” Sweeney noted.
“Over time these platforms will be whittled down to a competing set of platforms to maybe three winners worldwide across everything - computers, game platforms, smartphones… We should expect a lot of consolidation here and winners and losers according to who picks the right directions and executes successfully,” he said.
Sweeney also predicted there would be new devices on the market and new technologies for developers to use. “I see a bright future for technology and its implications on games. The ability of game developers to exploit another thousand-fold increase in computing power on future generations of platforms. Some of it will be consoles, some of it PC and some of it tablets. The form factor we can't predict, but the opportunity is there. Our industry's brightest days are yet to come.”
