Should the console war even matter?

[famousringo]

Domicinator said:

Yeah, I get that part, but I think most projections are pointing to the fact that even if the Xbox 360 ends up coming in third, it will be a smaller margin than it was with the original Xbox vs. the PS2, right? So I would think developers would consider it a very bad move financially to stop developing for the 360 just because it lost some war that largely gets fought on web forums anyway.

For example, looking at the predictions you've made, the PS3 will outsell the 360 by 6 million units at the end of the generation. I don't think developers would stop making games for a platform based on that small of a difference. And Microsoft certainly has the money to keep paying to get great exclusives.

Am I wrong on any of that?

 At some level, it doesn't really matter which sells more between the PS3 and the 360. Their capabilities are similar enough that the vast majority of 3rd party support will release on both platforms, and taken as a single market, the HD consoles represent a bigger market than the Gamecube and Xbox did last gen. While the Wii is bound to steal a chunk of that support, multiplat releases on the HD consoles should provide enough returns to justify the investment.

And I'm sure each console will have a handful of tasty exclusives every year so that the grass doesn't look too much greener on the other side.