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Ka-pi96 said:
Soundwave said:
Historically to be honest there isn't room for three consoles that do the same/similar thing.

90s ...

SNES
Genesis
Turbo Grafx 16 (failed)

Playstation
N64
Saturn/Dreamcast (failed)

PS2
XBox (probably would've finished around 30+ million had MS supported it past 2005)
GameCube (failed)

PS4
XBox One
Wii U (failed)

Yes, the X360/PS3/Wii generation had three, but that doesn't really help the point of Nintendo fans who claim three consoles doing the same thing are viable, as the Wii was a full generation behind the PS3/360 in tech and succeeded mostly off a 4-5 year motion gaming fad with casuals.

The general audience doesn't want three different console ecosystems to choose from. They want one usually lead platform, and then another competitive format to keep the market leader in check, and that's basically it. A third platform trying to compete on largely the same merits always gets trounced.

There's a couple flaws with that. For starters the 2 gens that PS won (can probably add current gen to that as well) it wasn't just one console that got trounced. Secondly, the Wii U isn't similar at all to PS4 and Xbox One yet is still doing poorly.

Well doing something differently isn't a sure fire recipe for success either. The Wii more likely was a once-in-every-20/30 years type of phenom catching lightning in a bottle for a few years. 

The point is though at no point other than in the midst of the Wii fad has there ever been three highly successful console platforms at once. 

The mainstream audience just doesn't want that much choice. People generally like clarity and simplicity in their format choices -- ie: iOS and Android, but everyone else is having a helluva time getting traction as the third option. 

People don't want that many choices. It's too much to think about for something that's largely trivial to their lives. Coke and Pepsi, ok, but not RC Cola. Message board gaming fans like the ones on here love game platforms and fetishize them and love the little intracies and differences, but the general consumer doesn't want all that. They don't want to have to research platforms or have like 3+ confusing different choices in front of them.