Pachter Says The Future Is Grim For Handhelds

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter always has something to say, and this time he’s weighing in on the future of the handheld market.

In the most recent episode of his web show – Pach-Attack – Pachter addresses a user question asking if handheld devices will move to the forefront of development because of this generation’s longer console life cycle.

“We’re not even close to saturated on the video game consoles,” says Patcher, “and we are way approaching saturation on the handheld market. We’re seeing DS hardware sales crack. I think the ubiquity of the iPod is cutting into the handheld market. I think the PSP2 is going to be dead on arrival.”

 “It looks to me like young kids are just as happy playing with an iPod Touch,” Patcher continues. “It is cool, it plays games, it plays music, and they are going to put a camera in it. The 3DS will prolong the handheld market for the game manufacture, but ultimately I think handhelds are in trouble. After the 3DS has had its little rush, handhelds are going to continue to decline.”

The hype for the 3DS is almost tangible, and there is a fair amount of curiosity about the new PSP iteration. Still, do you think Patcher is on point? Will phones negate the need for portable gaming devices?

[Thanks to Perfect.Disaster for the tip!]