I attempted to make a lifespan chart for past consoles based on the definition of "no new official games = end of life" that wikipedia tends to follow. People were more interested in the definition, the chart itself only got one comment!
I will attempt to re-make the chart based on the most popular definition of "lifespan" in this thread. A few questions to ponder:
If you prefer a hardware-based definition of lifespan, do all regions count? Does "support" (meaning they will replace/repair the console) count? Do refurbished consoles shipped to retail and sold as new count? Do used sales count? Do redesigned consoles count? Does full backwards compatibility in entirely new consoles count?
If you prefer a software-based definition of lifespan, do all regions count? Do unlicensed retail games count? Does homebrew count? Do new sales count, or only new games?
I'm also interested in how you believe Sony defines "lifespan" since they are the company who popularized the term for consoles. In 2004 they said PS2 will have a 10 year lifespan, and they claimed both PSP and PS3 were designed with 10 year lifespans. However, they never defined what "lifespan" meant, at least not publicly.
