Tablets could be more powerful than consoles in four years, says EA exec

Mobile processing power is growing so fast that it may soon overtake consoles, according to one EA executive.

EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen thinks tablets are going to become a more important part of gaming.

"What gets us the most excited is the power, the computing power, of mobile devices and the speed at which that's growing," Jorgenson said at the 2015 Technology, Internet & Media Conference, as reported by Gamespot.

"What that might mean is that a tablet, three or four years from now, has more power than what a typical console has. And that will open up a whole new set of people to console-style games that are much more immersive, much deeper, much more character-driven than simply a static mobile game that you might play for a small burst of time while you're waiting for the bus.

"And so we're looking for ways that we can essentially blend those two models to have a more immersive but movable game experience. Could be in your living room, could be on the bus, or it could be in a friend's house. Much more portable than it is today. And that for us is a huge opportunity."

I would never have predicted tablets would become such a familiar day to day sight, but I think it's worth noting that iPad sales are going down. That may be because alternative tablets are on the rise, though, or because bigger, more pwoerful smartphones are becoming more popular, closing the gap between phone and tablet.

Even if the control issues means we won't be playing Call of Duty 2019 or FIFA 19 on our iPad 5 tablets, I bet we'll be playing some sort of extended persistent universe tie-in - like FIFA Ultimate Team.