I think what killed the traditional console are the hardware progression and the decline of physical games. In 90s consoles had very different specs that gave them specialty. When you bought one it deteremined what kind of game library you would have access to, not just a few exclusives. And playing them was super convenient, you popped in your cartridge or disk and you were good to go.
Neither of those things exist today. While the console form factor still has value, there is no justification for the closed ecosystems around them in my opinion.
When consoles got “accounts” and avatars, that was the death of them. Theyre just subscription dumb terminal spyware now.
I think what killed the traditional console are the hardware progression and the decline of physical games. In 90s consoles had very different specs that gave them specialty. When you bought one it deteremined what kind of game library you would have access to, not just a few exclusives. And playing them was super convenient, you popped in your cartridge or disk and you were good to go.
Neither of those things exist today. While the console form factor still has value, there is no justification for the closed ecosystems around them in my opinion.