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September 13th, 2015 
Carl Williams 
Fast forward to today, we have the gaming industry bigger than it ever was. The “set top box” idea has come true and it is a, fairly, decent success. We also have a plethora of options to game on from Android phones to iPhones to “standard” consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 4. Before you start complaining that cell phones shouldn’t be included, they play games and games are a big part of their success (if they weren’t we would still be using black and white phones that barely played Snake or Tetris). I won’t be breaking them out as all 8+ variations of the iPhone or the 1,000+ Android variants, that would be stupid (and too time consuming) as they are all not commercially supported by the company. There are a few niche products on this list, i.e. you won’t see them at Wal-Mart, but that is fine, we had niche consoles back in the day too.
So, the lineup today looks quite varied, till you get to the computers anyhow.
Android Phones
Android Tablets
Apple iPad
Apple iPhone
Apple TV
Amazon Fire TV
Blackberry
iConstrux consoles
Nexus Player
Nintendo DS
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii U
Ouya/Razor
Playstation 3
Playstation 4
PS Vita
RETRO VGS
Roku
Steam Box variants
Uzebox
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Windows Phone
Computers is a little simpler than it was back in the day:
Apple OSX
Linux
Windows
That is 27 platforms all vying for your money. I know, I know, there are going to be people calling foul on my listing iPhone and iPad and Nexus Player with Android Phones and Tablets. The reason being, those are all being marketed right now and when you go up from the phones, there are exclusive games to those tablets and TV systems, making them unique systems for developers to make games for. Roku, while small is still a new platform that receives games from time to time with the Roku 3 being the current leading platform for that company.
The point is, there are MORE platforms right now that are, or will be, vying for your hard earned cash to make their platform a success. I am not counting the countless Kickstarter hopefuls that want to relaunch their variation of the Commodore 64/Amiga or yet another emulation only device. To add those we would be well into the 100+ territory, most of those don’t make it to the base funding anyhow. I am also leaving out consoles such as the Dreamcast, Nintendo’s NES and SNES and the other true retro consoles that still receive a game from time to time (though, I probably should list them as the developers do sell most of their games rather than give them away).
I am sure I am missing a few on this current list as there are new platforms announced all of the time. Some of these platforms share code and development kits but don’t share the game libraries- forcing gamers to purchase more than one copy of the game. That is nearly 30 platforms, folks. 30 different platforms that are looking for your hard earned cash to keep them alive.
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I have to disagree with you, with many of these platforms beign digital only, the overstock of the marketplace won’t come anywhere close to what happened in ’83. Now the glutt of microconsoles on the other hand is a very realistic possibility, due to the ammount of companies competing. However because the games beign sold are digital only, even if they sell the microconsoles at a loss they’ll still come out on top. As far as quality control goes, that is an issue I feel most applies to Android and Steam, but is at the end of the day, something that is addressable.
Well said. The problem with this glut of platforms, digital only/physical/combination of both, is they are still vying for the same finite amount of money gamers have to spend.
If enough crappy games are released, gamers will go elsewhere for entertainment.
Hey Carl, you’ve really padded your list of modern platforms. Let’s be a little more realistic. There are many legacy platforms on your list that aren’t receiving new games (ps3, vita, 360) and some that aren’t going to happen (retroVGS LOL). These are where new games are being made, where one could reasonably spend some money.
Android
Apple iOS
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo Wii U
Playstation 4
Xbox One
Let’s not forget that the modern market is much bigger, prices are lower, and quality is generally higher. Combine that with the manufacturing efficiencies of modern optical media (and of course digital downloads) and it’s pretty clear that we won’t see a 1984-style “crash” anytime soon, if ever again.
Sure, I “padded” the modern systems, those are still consoles (well, not the RETRO VGS, which at the time of the writing was “coming”) that command shelf space at some of the most popular stores for game sales such as Gamestop and Wal-Mart. Therefore they have to be considered “modern” as people are still buying them, even if companies are not supporting them anymore.
Sure, the modern market is bigger and more varied. That is true. It also makes it tougher for the good stuff to get to the top. Honestly, how many games are getting bought via digital download that are not AAA releases? Or how many non Call of Duty, GTA, God of War, etc titles are being bought at places like Wal-Mart. A lot of games just sit there and don’t get bought. This is evident with the numerous studio closings, publishers leaving certain markets even though they hold the rights to some extremely cherished IP’s (Konami for example).
How many gamers are going to be “happy” with a Pachinko Castlevania rather than a 2D side scrolling action fest? What kind of outcry is going to happen when we see a similar outing of Metal Gear Solid? Sure, this is a case of Konami going where the money is but when everything is IAP enabled crap puzzle games that are just graphic swaps of other games, how many gamers are going to continue supporting it?
Not many, I think. The second gaming crash will obviously be different than the first, it is just gaming nature. The market today is completely different than it was 30+ years ago, so will this looming crash be different.
What does this even mean? It makes zero sense.
“At some point gamers are going to get tired of all of the crap games out there and simply leave gaming again.”
Um, what? Wouldn’t they just be more selective and only play goood games? Quantity of choices has nothing to do with quality at the top. 99% of everything is crap, and it has always been that way.
Remember the original crash? There were still good games being released around Pac-Man and E.T. on the Atari 2600, two of the scapegoats that people point at as causing this event. Those good games didn’t stop the crash from happening as gamers got bored with all of the crap that was overshadowing the good.
We are very much in a similar situation but probably slightly different nowadays. There is a ton of “me-too” games (count the number of Match 3 games that simply swap graphics and ask for money at nearly every turn) or the “strategy” titles like Game of War (which are really just menu clicking games) that also sap the pocketbook.
Gamers are going to get tired of the crap (i.e., no real gameplay) and constant pushing of in app purchases.
If players would just play the best games then why are there so many crap titles clogging the top 10 on most of the app stores? It is increasingly tough for a good game to get exposure and purchases from gamers due to the myriad of crap titles that clog the news streams across the board.