Yeah, seen that over the other place. I think there are far too many people who are burying their heads in the sand (it's overstated, the industry is making the most money it ever has, how can consoles be stagnating when they are making so much money, it's only the AAA market that will collapse). Yet when we had the last big crash it only impacted North America. So claiming it is only going to impact AAA is very short sighted. Especially as that is where the bulk of the people are employed. Hell, how many people own a PS5 just for their annual COD, FIFA and so on.
I don't think the sort of console owners that go to places like Era, read the Kotakus or IGNs realise as well they are not the majority. They haven't seen a DOTA, LOL, CSGO, and only have a passing interest in the Apex, Marvel Rivals or hell even the Overwatchs of the world. They also don't understand that when Mummy & Daddy come to Christmas they won't be too happy to pay for a console that is now 2 to 3 times more expensive than the last one was. Especially when they may have had to update a phone or tablet or laptop for their kids or themselves.
My final worry with all of this is that there is too much faith being put into GTA6 saving the industry as a whole. It was almost understandable when AI wasn't an existential threat to everything. Yet we have already seen a microcosm of this with the release of Hollow Knight 2. I don't think gaming got a major boost from that release and the weeks leading up to and following where a blood bath. Either in terms of critical reception (why aren't games as good as this and so on) to other titles just not selling as well as maybe they could or should have. Somebody mentioned, and I am not sure if this is a joke, but there are something like 3,000 games releasing on steam in the lead up to GTA6. That is not good.
Do I think their is a crash incoming. Not really. I think their is a major course correction though and unfortunately for the developers they are the ones to suffer. I think Sony will suffer as well. They have thrown all their eggs in one basket, BIG CINEMATIC RELEASES, with very little in the way of the Sackboy type games. I also believe there will be another price rise from them but are holding off till after GTA6 launch. I think the big F2P, Live Service Games, Gacha Games will actually survive (I like some of these games, but they are cockroaches at times). Most of them run on relatively modest hardware or the cheaper mobile phones. But consoles, with the exception of Nintendo, have pushed themselves too far into the prestige market.
But then again this is the ramblings of an old man, who is thinking of cleaning up his steam deck and converting it over to a retro machine, and has found comfort in yelling at clouds.
