Why Smartphones And Tablets Are Not Killing Dedicated Gaming Handhelds

I've heard quite a bit about the spectre of death hovering over Nintendo and Sony's dedicated gaming handhelds, but I can't say I'm convinced that they're going the way of the dinosaur.

The 3DS and Vita are two very solid devices offering distinctly different experiences from their smartphone and tablet  brethren, with both ultimately serving to satisfy a separate audience of people. Let's break down what's really happening in the world of portable gaming and why Nintendo and Sony aren't going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

A large part of the reasoning behind the notion that Nintendo and Sony are being phased out of portable gaming is that smartphones and tablets are being sold at a far brisker pace than the 3DS and Vita.

Along with millions more apps and games being downloaded every day, it's understandable why some might think the future is looking a little bleak for both companies.

What I see, however, is a distinct and separate crowd of gamers who are spurring an unprecedented expansion of the mobile gaming market as opposed to the decline and realignment of the traditional portable gaming platform.

Think about it like this: your average smartphone purchaser who's stepping into an AT&T store or a Best Buy isn't debating with himself whether or not they want a 3DS or an Evo. Someone shopping for an iPad isn't wondering if she should be picking up a Vita, instead.

The average consumer of a tablet or smartphone is buying them for the myriad of other functions those devices bring to the table, which is everything from social networking to shooting videos of their cats slaughtering pillows.

Of course, these people will certainly play games to some capacity on these devices, it's preposterous to say they don't. With a plethora of downloads of Angry Birds and Plants Vs. Zombies, there's a lot of evidence out there to support the idea that people use tablets and smartphones to play games.

What I suggest is that the expansion of the mobile gaming industry is being fueled by the casual gamer, a group predominantly cultivated by Nintendo with the Wii.

The Wii provided a level of accessibility that paved the way for many people who never thought to give videogames a try. Stripping functionality down to a streamlined controller and implementing simple motion controls tapped into a part of the non-gaming public's psyche that no other system before ever had. As the iPod had already demonstrated, simplicity is king, and the Wii excelled at making games simple for people.

As time has passed, many people who became enamored with gaming on the Wii are making their way to the devices listed above due to their simple interfaces with easy to play and understand games. Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Words With Friends, these are all titles that someone can pickup within moments and have fun. The casual gamer has clung to these titles and the mobile platform because it follows a form factor that is familiar and comforting to them.

It is also worth noting the non-prohibitive pricing of mobile games on smartphones and tablets. A casual gamer is going to be less willing to invest a large amount of money into something that's a passing interest. With titles going for as little as 99 cents on an iPhone versus $30 (minimally) for a title on a 3DS, there is much more room for impulse buys and risk taking when the pricing is so low.

Remember what I said earlier, however; 99% of people aren't buying these devices primarily to play games. People buy phones because they need a phone, and people buy iPads and tablets for a lot more than playing Scrabble. What these mobile developers have discovered is that it's easy to appeal to the casual gamer to find and acquire these games, because the installed base is just so huge.

There's very little that has to be done at this point to get tablets and smartphones into someone's hands so long as quality of the product and demand remains high. Thus, you can market and advertise games with ease because the means to play is already in the possession of so many.

All of this, however, does not mean the demand for a dedicated gaming handheld is disappearing. We can't forget that there is a very large number of people who fall into the so-called hardcore camp of gaming. These are the people who play regularly and seek games that have involved control schemes and skew more towards skill-based progression.

The onset of games like Angry Birds does not suddenly mean a hardcore gamer has stopped wanting to play the games they've always enjoyed. There are millions of people who have bought the 3DS and Vita, and many millions more will continue to support both handhelds. It's a matter of keeping things in perspective in order to appreciate why both platforms of mobile gaming will continue to co-exist.

Gaming enthusiasts seek out the offerings of Nintendo and Sony because they provide experiences that touch screen-only devices simply aren't capable of. The interface of an iPhone, for gaming, is far more limited when compared to what a Vita and 3DS can do. The combination of analogue sticks and face and shoulder buttons with touch screens and gyro controls provides for a much more engaging experience. Sony and Nintendo are in the wonderful position of being able to offer both the casual and hardcore experiences that gamers desire. The price of games is significantly higher, but so too is the experience provided. The majority of games are longer and more elaborate than what a tablet or smartphone can offer. While we have seen instances of deeper gameplay available on the Apple and Android platforms, the fact remains that if you want a deeper game experience you will play on a 3DS or Vita.

Though sales might not be in the same area of the stratosphere as smartphones and tablets, that doesn't mean Sony and Nintendo are failing in their endeavors. They are simply continuing to sell to and please the same audience that they always have, which is clearly going to be smaller than the crowd of people who go out to buy multifunction portable devices that play integral parts in their lives. A 3DS is never going to offer everything a smartphone can. A Vita is not a tablet. Though Nintendo and Sony's portables do offer cameras, music players, and so forth, tablets and smartphones provide a more seamless and quality experience with those types of functions. No, people who want to play a larger variety of games will continue to flock to dedicated gaming handhelds, and people who just want to spend a couple minutes in line playing will be satisfied with their iPhones. While it's entirely possible that gamers might continue to be swayed by cheap thrills over expensive grand adventures, at this point things look bright for Nintendo and Sony so long as they continue to bring us the amazing games both companies are famous for.

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