That's not even the half of it:
- There are usually three big game console makers at any one time.
- The market leader changes with each new generation.
- Mindshare does not translate into market leadership. The Xbox had the most mindshare during its generation. The Xbox 360 has the most mindshare now. However, the best that Microsoft could do with both consoles was the No. 2 position during each generation.
- Apple digital devices sell on razor-thin margins. Game consoles sell at a loss.
- Profits in video gaming are generated by license fees on games that are artificially constrained in supply.
The bottomline is that the game console market is a crapshot. Not to put too fine a point on it, most crapshots lose.