Sorry pal, but I feel completely different about this. We'll reach fanboy console warz climax in the next few years. There will be casualties - I'm not sure if Nintendo as a console manufacturer will survive all of this. We'll even have console civil warz where Playstation Neo users will bash the OG PS 4 peasants and so on.
Nintendo isn't soley a console manufacturer/dev house anymore. Amiibo is just the start. Movies, theme parks, mobile that's where they are moving towards. It's pretty clear they are going to expand into a entertainment brand whether the hardcore like it or not.
As for console civil wars, yeah maybe some idiots on forums might continue their nonsense. But it's pretty clear at this point that that audience is a niche within a niche. Places like this, and the online media that feeds us is pretty much dead. The future is YouTube influencers and whatnot, which by their very nature spilt even the most hardcore so far up that their voices become statistical noise. With Games as a service pretty much taking over, you are much more likely to find franchise or even title fanboys than hardware ones.
Second point: this isn't happy hippo land where MS, Sony and Nintendo will end up holding hands. There is absolutely no indication that the console market has grown overall or will grow because of incremental upgrades. Maybe people will buy a secondary console as consequence, but I can also see people staying in their ecosystem and committing fully to it. Meaning, if you have to buy a new upgrade every 2-3 years now, no way the majority will be able to afford a second console.
Nobody said it was happy hippo land. Everybody wants to be the one that's top of the class, if only for the simple reason of placating investors.
However, the big 3 are moving away from trying to compete at what someone else is the market leader at, because you just end up throwing good money and alienating the Fanbase that made you successful in the first place
Nintendo is not going to make a console for the AAA industry, which would mean their own titles have to jump up in dev time, budget and risk all the cookie cutter design shortcuts.
Microsoft is done trying to localise and push Xbox in markets that to be successful they need to invest far more money and time that is feasible. They are all about the market they do have now, the English speaking one.
Sony is done greenlighting AAA halo killer software, electing to use that money for partnerships with companies that already make that kind of stuff. I doubt we will see a AAA shooter especially from Sony ever again.
What that means in practical terms is people who would normally go to one console as their one stop shop for everything may have to consider a secondary one now. The big 3 are obviously OK with that and will have offerings at lower price points to support that. If people don't want to do that, it's totally fine as well. Options are there and that's the main thing.
Playstation 2 wants to have a word with you, sir. I'm really surprised how so many Gaffers seem to forget that PS2 received major push with all the Singstar causal type of games. Sony was going for moms and dads and grannys before Wii was launched.
There was a PS2 in nearly every household around me at that time. This was also a important reason why the PS2 sales didn't drop off as consoles normally do when a new model arrives.
The market conditions that made the PS2 a success will never be replicated, even with VR. It's a far different world and it's about time people just accepted that. There will never again be a console that ruled the roost both for the casual and hardcore ever again, even if the PS4 outsells it.