It would not be a completely outrageous suggestion at this point to wonder about Sony selling its gaming division to another company. Suppose the buyer was Microsoft, who could actually afford them. Would Microsoft suddenly become relevant in Japan, or would Japan become 100% Nintendo territory? My guess is the latter. The Japanese market won't take a Western console seriously. The global market would become extremely polarized, with MicroSony dominating the West and Nintendo effectively having a monopoly on the industry in Japan. This would lead to Nintendo securing key Japanese exclusives like Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter, and possibly Final Fantasy. They would still sell decently well in the West thanks to their first-party franchises, and that generation would probably be very balanced in global sales.
Either combination of Nintendo and Sony, however, would literally break the industry. Microsoft can't compete with that. No one can compete with that. SonTendo would have a complete global monopoly on dedicated video game consoles. Ultimately, I think that could have disastrous results.
