Can 4 consoles survive simultaneosly

[greenmedic88]

4 consoles can exist in the same market. The question is how much of the overall market each platform can successfully hold.

I see one or two becoming smaller niche products catering to more specific audiences. It's far too early to guess which will be what with any reasonable degree of accuracy, but if I had to, I'd say the Wii U and the PS4 would likely fall into the marginalized category.

But there just isn't enough information at this point in regards to the Steam Box or whatever Valve decides to call it.

I'm a huge Steam customer, largely due to cross hardware portability (being able to access my library of games on any PC I build or buy) and naturally, Valve's ridiculous sales on relatively new titles during the summer and the winter, plus the weekly deals, etc. etc. Presumably, most if not all of my back catalog of game licenses will be playable on Valve's hardware. I suppose the only question is why would I buy it and replace the PC that's already permanently plugged into my living room HDTV?

Presumably "Steam Box" will provide the same ease of use and speed of connectivity as any existing console. No turning on the console by kicking the power button on the box, booting up Windows and then launching and logging into Steam via the Start Menu. Instead, push button on controller, box powers on and boots up to game launching menu within seconds, ready to play.

If I'm fortunate, Valve's new box could end up replacing my next gaming PC build (I use separate PCs for gaming and work at home) and will likely prevent me from ever buying an Xbox 3.0 since I have no intention of being a paid subscriber for XBL for the occasional MS Studios title.

I am more than a little sketchy over the prospect of a Steam Box that I presumably won't be able to upgrade since the main reason for a console is to have one set hardware standard with preset specs for all developers to be optimizing for. Naturally, the main reason for a gaming PC is the flexibility of upgrades as needs require.

On the other hand, I really don't have any problem buying a new Steam Box every two or three years if Valve does what every PC maker does and releases a new/updated version of their box every year.

Price/performance will tell.