E3 2012: Carmack: Consoles could become niche

The technical director of Id Software John Carmack has suggested that traditional consoles may soon become a niche product for highly dedicated, purist consumers.

His prediction came as he discussed the way cloud technology may soon see gaming proliferate across numerous devices, reports CVG.

"Console gaming might morph" said Carmack. "You can certainly see cloud gaming being built into every display device and traditional consoles could become more like the audiophile niche of people who want the extreme experience there."

He added: "I hesitate to predict anything five, six years into the future, but the next generation should last a long time."

The ‘audiophile’ stereo-buying demographic sees consumers pay vast sums investing in high end audio equipment, which is often customised with meticulous effort.

Carmack was at E3 to promoted his Head-Mounted Display, or HMD units, on which he was demonstrating Doom 3. The HMD revisits the long-dormant virtual reality concept, using a motion tracking headset-based technology, and has been a personal project of Carmack for a year.

Carmack expects to sell the HMD to hobbiest coders and other interested parties who can help develop an ecosystem for the platform and advance the hardware.