Let's not limit our view of the world. Think outside the box - I suggest you google the following topics.
I am not limiting our world view, I am just saying that the kind of games you make (PDS, not all the games you publish) are not made for these machines/platforms.
There has been a long history of how important input devices are. Why some genres have remained preferred for PCs compared to some for consoles. Ever played
StarCraft for the PS1? Just sayin'.
Which have been barely significant the past two years. They were quite exciting when Asus released their Eee a few years back, but even since the tablet craze took off, no one has cared about Netbooks. I don't know why, maybe they were expecting them to be able to do more, installing Windows 7 on them was a mistake or some other reason. They are hardly a wise platform to bet your investment on (I actually don't think there are anyone focusing on Netbook-games).
Yeah, those are quite big. But what the sales numbers are not telling you, is what kind of consumer it is that are purchasing tablets. I am going to take a guess that most people buying tablets are not the kind of person with the desire to play an in-depth game like
Hearts of Iron 3 or
Crusader Kings 2.
- Tablet processing power development (especially projections)
Yes indeed. ARM are making significant process. And good for them. x86 sucks. And have sucked for two decades. If only we had gotten more interested in RISC or PowerPC, but that's what an Intel chip monopoly does, I guess.
But I also think that in the same time you are going to see x86 processor development. But I may give you that in five or ten years, you will have tablets that could easily power
Victoria 2.
Yes, how many of those are playing your games again?
- and take a long hard look how the hardware requirements for PC games are changing (or lack thereof)
I attribute that to programmers taking optimising serious for once. Which is incredible nice to see. Not since the 90s have game developers spend a lot of time to make the most out of a computer as developers had to in the late 80s and early 90s.
Long story short - tablets are the new PC's - what's powering the games is of little interest - in the end you're consuming PDX games on a screen - either on a tablet, a monitor, a tv or in a browser window at a internet café.
Screen is not important, input device is for a strategy game. I have tried
Civilization: Revolutions for the PS3, and it has a more capable controller than a touch screen, and even that is disappointing to play. These systems always seem inadequate to a desktop.
In 5 year's time you'll come home - start EU5 on your phone and play it on your monitor of choice - image being transferred wirelessly.
I sincerely doubt that. Not only because I won't be playing games on my phone, but also because you won't have EU5 out by then.
The one who can deliver solid gameplay will end up top - and the one focusing on hardware will fail.
That is not untrue, but the wrong input device can limit the gameplay you can create. Designing interfaces are an important part of game creating. You obviously should know this, and I am just thinking; with how important that tooltips have become in PDS games, how are you going to cover that on a touch device?
I will not write off desktops and laptops so quickly. They will remain the preferred gaming station for those who play the kind of games that PDS develops.
I am also not comfortable with most tablets, especially the iPad and the Microsoft Surface, whose platform seems to be incredibly closed and much less free than their desktop/laptop counterparts. I will not buy either of these devices for political and ideological reasons alone.
Tablets and smartphones are a sad movement away from free software. Even Android is hardly as free as it
should be.