David Darling CBE, co-founder of Codemasters, yesterday published a blog in which he had some interesting things to say about his predictions for the future of the industry.
The title of the blog is "Jurassic consoles could become extinct" and his opening gambit sets the tone for the rest of the piece: "Sony and Microsoft cannot let the retailers dictate game prices going forwards if they want to break free from the current over-priced model, their next consoles, PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 need to be digital only, or they will fail."
Darling has a stark warning for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo: "Once Apple add an App Store to Apple TV they could take over the living room games industry like they have taken over the handheld games industry with the iPhone and its flexible pricing and lack of distribution costs. The industry is transitioning from boxed to digital games."
He later added: "Physical media like DVD is dying out and gaming is rapidly moving to digital distribution. If hardware manufacturers such as Sony and Microsoft do not manage this transition soon, they will be overtaken and left behind by companies who are embracing digital distribution wholly and completely."
"Companies like Apple and Google are not tied to brick and mortar retailers with shackles and are not being held back by them... Consoles have become like dinosaurs heading for extinction as their natural retail habitat begins to change."