Livingstone: "Middle ground" between console and social games is "going to disappear"

Ian Livingstone believes that social gaming is important to the industry at the moment, especially for people who are not into console gaming. However, he is also of the opinion, that this middle ground between the two extremes is slowly disappearing.

Livingstone, is part of Playdemic, the developers of the social game Gourmet Ranch, which launched last year. It has the player growing ingredient for hamburgers and selling them in restaurants. He is also still involved with Eidos, but is also part of a new advertising company which helps Facebook game developers make money.

“Adverts may lose you some users, but at least you’ll be earning money,” Livingstone told Pocket-lint. "The scope of games on Facebook is going to grow immensely. At the moment they are mostly played by soccer moms, but we are only at the starting point for Facebook games. When production values increase like they did with PC games, traditional gamers and even hardcore gamers will play them.

"It really is a great platform to play.”

Be that as it may, Livingstone also feels that triple-A isn't going away any time soon either, in fact, the higher end games will continue to sell even more "going forward." However, with the younger generation, which has grown up with both the social gaming sector and console-based titles, it's going to be harder for companies to snag them unless there is an all-inclusive device allowing both sectors.

“Consoles aren’t going to go away," he said. "AAA titles still drive the art and aren’t going to disappear. The best in class are going to sell even more going forward. The difference is that there will be no middle ground. That middle ground is going to disappear. Those people that buy games are going to buy best in class and then spend the rest of their time playing social games, games on their iPhone, or iPad or Android.

“The kids of today want one social media device. If you’re in the handheld space, and have a dedicated cartridge based hand held device, you’ve got challenges. Kids want everything that affects their daily lives in one device; music, film, entertainment, and games and it has to be on a device that is also social. Console publishers will have to make sure they make really good games. They can’t just churn stuff out, and that’s a good thing."

You can read the full interview through the link.