3- There will be fewer publishers than ever (you can count around five or six big publishers total including Japan), and probably big media corporations like Disney, Viacom, Warner, etc., behind most of them. This is a result of the cut-throat competition going on now; there is simply not enough room for publishers to make enough money on games that have a high development cost due to the strong competition every year, and this is reinforced by online gaming where people are now playing specific games for longer periods of time, effectively ignoring new releases. Add to this the ongoing recession and it will only make things more difficult in the years ahead.
Eventually this reduced competition will give publishers some breathing room once more since currently even good games can end up unprofitable due to the fact that the market is too crowded. Less competition will mean higher sales and more stable corporate strategies.