The third console curse: Which was the biggest stumble?

[Chazore]

curl-6 said:

What's weird about this "curse" is that all four companies were at the time coming off a period of immense success; the PS2, Megadrive, and 360 were the most successful systems from each manufacturer, and while the SNES was not as it faced stiff competition, it eventually emerged victorious and reasserted Nintendo's dominance over the console market.

Then, collectively, they all lost their minds and shot themselves in the foot.

It could be argued that it was precisely their success that lead to overconfidence and subsequently grave mistakes. Pride cometh before the fall, as they say.

I've seen this occur throughout time tbh. We are possibly the most prideful race on this entire planet, and we show it in so many ways, and in some cases it tends to blind us, leading us to making rash or poor decisions down the road.

Look at Apple when they went up against MS back in the day. They were the rag tag underdog way back then, but now they're up there right next to MS, and both have made bad calls and end up losing sight of what made them who they are today.

Gaming-wise, look at Naughty Dog. They were once known for making Crash bandicoot and Uncharted, but now they've become the one trick pony with TLOU. Guerrilla Games used to be known for gmaking Killzone, but now they're in the HZD mineshaft. 

You can have both pride and pigeon-hole yourself into just making one thing for the rest of your life (which is honestly a stale outcome to have), or you can be prideful and then lead yourself to a fall from lapse in making good decisions. I feel like companies and game studios are capable of doing both.