Worlds of What If: A Series of Video Game Alternate Histories

[Mr Khan]

Salnax said:
Okay, so far I've got a basic outline for generation 5 without Sony being in the console market. It's not pretty. The Saturn and N64 sell a combined 90 to 95 million units, less than our timeline's PSone all by itself.

In retrospect, Sony entering the industry was a great thing, if only because they made less crazy decisions than Sega and Nintendo generation 5 and provided resources and advertising for big games like Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, Namco Fighters, Twisted Metal, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy, and Spyro.

Anyway, I'm thinking the Xbox becomes the new PSone in terms of making a breakthrough for Western console gaming. It had the horsepower, the price, and the killer apps. Especially since it would have been the only 6th generation console capable of playing Grand Theft Auto.

Would Microsoft have given enough of a damn to enter the market, though? They saw Sony as a threat, coming from the living room with their "Computer Entertainment System," and so made the Xbox to fight that threat on their terms (with the 360 more made as Microsoft's counterattack to try to really rule the living room of their own accord)