Bad to buy console with future so unknown

I'm just thinking it might have been a bad idea to take the risk of buying any of these next gen consoles with pretty much every site declaring mobile will eventually take its place. How long will it be before we can deem these consoles successful.

Don't think most sites are talking about mobiles replacing consoles. Or at least not any site I've read or care to read, because that's just nonsense.

As for a console being successful, it depends on your standard of measurement. Both Sony and Microsoft make a profit on consoles sold, so presumably they were financially successful from day 1. Any other measurement is kind of just personal opinion, but i think they both had good launches and have good games coming out on them, so they're successful.

If you like the big complicated console games on a TV mobile will not be replacing them in the next five years. Mobile devices don't have good controller support nor do they interface with large TVs well at this point. They provide a different kind of experience. Some mobile games are great but they can't even really compete with the 3DS and Vita for complex experiences let alone the big consoles. I wouldn't worry about that.

As for how long it will take until these consoles are successful...that depends what you want out of them. I would say that when we are getting new experiences and games we couldn't get on the 360 and PS3 they will be a success. Probably a couple years.

Anybody who thinks mobile is going to completely replace consoles in the near future is a complete idiot. Mobile games are not a replacement for console-like experiences and there is absolutely no indication that the people who enjoy console gaming experiences are going to stop caring and suddenly play mobile instead, and as long as those people exists consoles will exist.

Besides, the increased popularity of mobile gaming has more to do with the overall gaming community expanding rather than everyone deciding they like mobile games more. Too many people fail to acknowledge the fact that gaming is way more mainstream than it ever has been in past.

The profit does not include R&D or marketing costs. It will be years before either company sees actual real profit on these systems.

Mobile will never replace core gaming until it can deliver the same experience or better. It just attracted a new, vast, disinterested audience distinct from folks like us.

do you guys really believe this is an actual account/person?

Never.

Mobile gaming and console gaming are, in my mind provide two different experiences. Console gaming is strictly centred around our home entertainment (TV's, home theatre systems etc..), while mobile gaming can provide me with a quick 5-10 minute experience, while I wait for an appointment or something similar.

It's not buying a house dude...

People have been saying the console side of the industry is going to be dead for years. I would agree about not getting a console so early, but for an entirely different reason. That being launches are an unknown. They can be prone to technical problems and it's usually a good idea to wait for more attractive hardware revisions down the line.

After suffering from 4 RRoD-- 2 of which occurring well into the generation--I've learned my lesson. I think I can wait a while for kinks to be fixed

Japan is going all mobile the rest of the world is still playing consoles and PCs.

Well both consoles sold through a million units in single days, which beats the previous record console launches of 400k over the course of a month.

It's probably too early to be certain since this is in some ways more about supply than demand (if there were a million Wiis in 2006 they would've sold a million Wiis in 2006). In other ways I don't feel bad at all saying that things will work out and just stay optimistic and enjoy whatever games come along. Why? Well let's look at the console that almost definitely has next to no future, the Wii U. I bought one a year ago, no one else did, its still offering some awesome games. So far its had Pikmin, (the best version of) Rayman, Wind Waker HD and Mario. It'll soon have DKCTF and, a year after that give or take, Smash Bros. Probably other worthwhile games. So basically the console that definitely is going to fail somehow has enough games to justify its existence one year later.

In a year I'm probably going to have loads of games on my Xbox One. I'll probably have a fair smattering on my PS4. I'll have DKCTF. I think that's enough to justify them. There'll probably be at least 3 or 4 years after that of stuff on the One, the PS4 and maybe even the Wii U. And that'll be nice too.