Why it DOES matter whether there are two consoles or three

[Impulsivity]

There was no Xbox when the PS2 came out and the PS2 was just as much a jump over the PS1 and dreamcast (the 2nd generations 360) as the PS3 was over the PS2. Sony would make a high end console regardless, its what they do as a company, push the envelope



As to how the market would shake out, it would almost certainly consolidate a lot of the one or the other sales into the PS brand and the PS would be slightly behind the Wii but it would be close (and the PS3 would sell more software). There are two rather large markets out there, one for cutting edge high end gaming and one for older tech casual gaming. The Wii has done very well in the second one (though the PS2 is still holding its own) while the first one has been split between the PS3 and 360 so that neither are doing that well. It wouldn't be straight out adding up the PS3 and 360 numbers since many own both, but it would be more like 25 million PS3s worldwide vs 30 million Wiis, maybe more PS3s since all the JRPGs would have been on the PS3 which Japanese would actually buy (unlike the 360 which is a lost cause in Japan unless they can talk Nintendo into buying the brand).



Some think casual gaming is the future, I think its just that the casual market is consolidated while the HD market is needlessly fragmented. We all look at the Wii games and say oh they're number one! Well add up the PS3 and 360 numbers for a lot of games and they dwarf the sales of any casual Wii game (COD4, GTA4 ect). If there was only one HD console it would be very competitive with the Wii, it would be about 4 DS games, 2-3 Wii games and 3-4 PS3 games most weeks instead of almost only Wii and DS games outside of release weeks for the other consoles big games.<br> <br>

VERY few 360 and PS3 gamers would go exclusive to the Wii if the other HD console didn't exist.  At most you'd have a few who would get a PS3 and Wii instead of PS3 and 360.   That's like saying if the maker of a videophile's LCD TV didn't make TVs anymore they'd go to the 999 Vizio TV at walmart, probably not.  When the Saturn died all the Saturn people didn't go to the N64, they went to the PS1 (or dreamcast followed by PS2).  While some might go PC exclusive if the 360 didn't exist, I would argue people who like PC games and have a good PC don't need a 360 to begin with, on the other hand there are a ton of PS3 games that are never released for the PC (and wouldn't even be better on it, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet, the PSN games, Uncharted, Heavenly Sword and many more are almost certainly better on a console)