Jay520 on 02 April 2012
It's a contributing factor, definitely, but it's not an absolute determinent of generation victory. Other factors like price, features, marketing, and most importantly, games are more important.
Sometimes these factors are affected by launch order, like 3rd party games, but that's a factor that console producers must consider and counter by improving in other factors, specifically first party games.
In a case where a console is inferior, or even very similar, to a competitor, then launch time can be important
