Games Industry must be prepared for digital future, says Wada

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has said that the games industry must be prepared for the eventual switch to digital distribution and streaming services as consoles games "won't exist" someday.

“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist," he told MCV. “Somewhere around 2005 the console manufacturers’ strategy shifted. In the past the platform was hardware, but it has switched to the network. A time will come when the hardware isn’t even needed anymore.

“With that, any kind of terminal becomes a potential platform on which games can be played – that’s exponential growth in the potential of gaming. The potential size of the market is enormous.”

Wada said that Square's preparing by producing more social and browser games along with monitoring 2010’s Beta of Final Fantasy XIV on PS3, and that in order to survive the switch, third-parties must follow suit or else "suffer a big negative impact".

“Social and browser games are going to grow dramatically – especially in areas like Asia which does not have as big a console market,” he said.

More through the link.