Tencent is more likely to start a global storefront on PC or restructure/integrate Epic Games Store into it, and release cheap "Steam Machine" style PC's that undercut anything from Valve or Microsoft. I doubt they're taking a console route, even though they certainly can.

No. Too many have tried. PlayStation and Nintendo have their markets cornered in hardware. Xbox isn't about hardware anymore.
Don't see why EA or Apple would waste time and money to make consoles.

No, If the market stays as it is I dont think anyone will. Thered have to be a big change in the way we consume media/videogames to give place for someone else to step in.

Nintendo could move in and make a more traditional or different kind of console as they're already in the space and mainly a game company, but I doubt anyone else bothers. Even in a limited amount shipping 6-8 million more consoles per year probably has some appeal to Nintendo so long as they can continue to share the same library (so no bespoke libraries, it's just Switch 2 content that scales up/down).

The game industry simply isn't attractive enough to the big wig companies like Apple to really bother especially if Microsoft spent a ton of money for not a whole lot of results.

As console maker? No, No one will fill this void.

Kinda sad, competition is always good... I mean, just look at the shitshow that is Nintendo.

Isn't EA owned by a Saudi backing group now anyway? Doubt they have any interest in that, if anything they probably will push for more multiplatform (more games on Switch 2 for example, NHL returning to the PC and Nintendo platforms etc.), not to mention a lot of EA's sports contracts (NFL, NHL, FC soccer) are likely contingent on the games having to be on multiple platforms.

They likely cannot make a console and say like "Madden NFL is now exclusive to EA console!". They would have to make a version for other platforms, which kind of defeats the purpose of making a console. 

Microsoft is still in the video game industry via Windows. I think that's going to be their focus since Steam is pushing Linux.

The most I could possibly see as a more traditional console from Nintendo would be Switch 2 Pro/Deluxe as home console-only. Use the same OS and controllers and stuff as Switch 2 but with way better specs. Still, we're not talking PS6-level specs here. PS5 or maybe PS5 Pro specs relatively speaking.

Nintendo splitting platforms again each generation is a crazy gamble. Wii U was a failure; GameCube either was a failure too or close enough to it. N64 underperformed, especially from 2000 onward. 

Probably not, unless Nintendo tries their hand at a traditional home console again. Only five companies have ever had a console that could be defined as having mainstream success: Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft. There are far more companies that failed to gain a foothold in the console hardware market. The ones that did have success had the right combination of games, marketing, and other factors that go into making a system popular. Even then, two of those five only really had one truly successful system (Atari with the VCS/2600 and Sega with the Genesis) and eventually left the console market. With so many failed attempts, it's hard to see who could fill a vacuum left by Xbox leaving the hardware market. Any company attempting this would at minimum need a solid piece of hardware that's price competitive with PlayStation and that has must-have exclusive games, much like how the NES had SMB, the Genesis had Sonic, the PS1 had FF7, and the Xbox had Halo CE.

With the gloomy forecast of AI, I suspect the appropriate question isn't whether or not a company will come in to fill Xbox's void but rather, how long will the console industry survive? Because unless you don't mind the idea of playing a computer's version of a game, the whole thing is on the edge of collapse. Even Nintendo, which have long been the gate-keepers of what is most sacred in this industry, won't be immune. When you can ask a machine to build your next game and it can do so in five minutes with only a month of human oversight to get it ready to ship? They're going to jump on board.

Personally, I'm already been preparing for the wake.