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http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/28/5456564/twitch-plays-pokemon-suggests-the-service-could-evolve-into-a-games Well now, Twitch could possibly be made its own gaming platform (maybe even a console). SO, my fellow SSMBers, what do you make of this?

This sort of prediction I believe was already made by someone on the board (was it Tornado? Can't remember), but now it's being made by someone in the industry: Source I think, at this point, this topic deserves a discussion in its own right, now. This raises two major questions. 1) How likely is it for either Sony or Microsoft to bow out of the next generation of consoles? 2) Would either bowing out be good or bad for the industry? Firstly, let's look at the state of Sony and Microsoft as they are now, and how things went for them this generation. Starting from data gathered on NeoGAF concerning each console maker's earnings over the past several years (excluding 2011, if anyone knows where to find data on that, it would be much appreciated), plus a graph... Examining the graph, the writing is pretty clearly on the wall. Profits-wise, the PS3 was a catastrophic failure for Sony, even if they possibly did pick up in 2011 (don't know if that's the case yet), because it pretty much lost them virtually all the profits they gained from both the PS1 and PS2. Last I checked, the Vita is doing pretty badly in Japan (unless someone corrects me), so this whole gen has not been a good one for Sony. Even when it was losing, Nintendo was still making a ton of cash. The original XBox was never a profitable piece of hardware for Microsoft. And the 360, while it's doing better (as in, not causing Microsoft to lose money), it's still nowhere near the level to make up for the massive loss in cash Microsoft suffered from its predecessor, if the trend shown by the graph is of any indication, and I swear I heard somewhere that investors are clearly not happy with Microsoft's gaming division. Really, I wouldn't be surprised at all if either company dropped out. Sony lost two entire generations worth of profits from the PS3 alone, and Microsoft are still trying to recover the loss they suffered from the original XBox. Now, this leaves us with the second question. While variety and competition is not a bad thing, in an industry where games and consoles are getting more expensive, three consoles on the market might be a bit much for gamers who want to play some great games, especially if said games are exclusive to one console. One hardware maker dropping out would probably result in the same thing that happened to Sega, which started making third-party games instead of first-party - not exactly a bad thing, less money you need to spend on hardware to get exclusives. However, anyone who preferred the hardware of one company over the others wouldn't want to have to settle for the one who stayed in the running just because their favored hardware maker started making third-party games instead. I guess it's mostly personal preference, really. So, yeah. Thoughts?