The brand new Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One consoles have shown disappointing sales, even after the holiday season. The market for gaming consoles is shrinking and this had had a big impact on game developers and studios. Some have even begun to shut their doors as demand for consoles is waning. It is not just the new consoles that are struggling, sales of market giants PS3/360/Wii have also gone down.

But why are these beloved consoles becoming obsolete? A big part of it may be that there are many ways to spend our free time and the console can’t keep up. For example, mobile gaming has taken off. Additionally, an online presence in social media seems to be mandatory and social messaging like twitter, Snapchat, etc. has taken up a big part of our lives. Other franchises like Angry Bird, Candy Crush, and Words With Friends have become more popular than more traditional console games. The other problem that consoles face is that they can’t refresh and upgrade as fast as mobile games. A game on your device has frequent updates and mobile hardware is upgraded about once a year. Additionally, there is competition with top of the line PC hardware. Now PC’s have better hardware than gaming consoles so intense gamers are moving to a high end gaming PC for the best playing experience. This leads to the gaming console losing customers in both directions. Casual gamers are moving to mobile devices and passionate gamers are leaving their consoles for PCs.

The failing ecosystem of the gaming console has caused higher rates of production, meaning less games. Without many games to choose from, it is hard to justify purchasing a brand new console for a pretty penny. The console market either has to change drastically or it may be time to say goodbye to your beloved PlayStation.