Often times when something is repeated often enough people may actually start believing it may be true. Unfortunately for Wild Tangent CEO, Alex St. John, his thoughts on console gaming are not likely to fall in this category. It hasn't been unusual to come across sound bites from St. John claiming that console gaming's dominance in the market is drawing to an end, but according to a blog posting at the Seattle PI's Website St. John seems to think that console gaming will, get this, be dead in little more than 10 years. St. John's comments came as part of his statements today at Casual Connect in Seattle. According to the PI he started off by saying:

'"I am going to make some outrageous claims today. And then I will attempt to substantiate them. Feel free to disagree with me. Just remember, that I am right."'

Later continuing:

'"We are looking at the last generation of consoles right now. I am going to predict to you that the PS3, the Wii and the X-box are the last generation of consoles that you either see or that anybody regards as successful in the market."'

And eventually concluding with:

'"Everything they know how to do is wrong. They start in a well. They think that brand matters. They think that their marketing expertise matters. They think that a pile of art work and a box matters. They have got a bunch of people paid huge salaries with years of expertise who would never dream of firing themselves because they have got the wrong domain expertise. And so Disney, for example, would never have funded the 0 million project to build Club Penguin, but boy they paid 0 million like little b****** to buy it after it hit the market. ... So the weird thing is that the expertise and the skill set to create these games -- they are not really rocket science to make -- it is just an entirely new mentality. The big budgets and the money and all the stuff these companies have that are entrenched are not an advantage, they are an encumbrance."'

I didn't see the actual 2020 date in the quotes noted in the PI blog headline, but knowing St. John's reputation for over the top comments, I'll take the post at face value. So, as for St. John's opinions, well, I know that he had a captive and invested audience, but that room had to filled with puzzled faces and rolling eyes, so I hope that the lights were dimmed. I know casual gaming is huge, but I just can't imagine a world filled with that much Bejeweled and Zuma.

How about you?

--Hobson's Choice

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