Where would we be without Sony this gen?

[Profrektius]

Thunderbird77 said:

captain carot said:
Real question is where would we be without competition.

Remember PS3 release? Or Nintendos market politics in the late 80s/early 90s?

Competition is neccessary. That's why it's stupid to want any of the gaming companies quit the race. And probably even more stupid to want Sony and Nintendo siding. There should be at least two competitors that, ideally, are equally strong.

Totally wrong fallacy. Competition should come from software only.

Imagine a hypothetical scenario where only one gaming hardware platform was available. The company could do whatever they would want, always online DRM, keep raising online prices, and other customer unfriendly practices.  They would implement features that might turn many people away, but they would find the right balance where they can maximize profits, a balance between screwing people over so they can exploit them the most, but so they still keep playing games. They would not need to win customers over anymore, as the only alternative would be not gaming, so they could get away with a lot more exploiting of its users.

The fact that companies have to fight to get the consumers to their platform, means they will be doing things that benefit consumers.