What If the Nintendo Play Station was actually released?

Would this even exist in our new timeline?

OK, but still... what about today?

Oh, right. Sorry.

So, as I said, we'd more than likely still have Sega producing console hardware - if not thriving, then more than likely hanging in there, much like how Nintendo was with the GameCube.

Speaking of Nintendo, there's a good chance that if this timeline had come to pass, we wouldn't have gotten the Wii - at least not as we know it. The Wii came about with Nintendo desperately needing to find a way to stand-out from the other companies and their focus on hardware specs and home media capabilities. We could have very well seen a Wii, still with the motion controls but with the HD output and other specs of the Wii U. Or, they might have come up with something completely now. Again, this is Nintendo, we're probably talking about something weird. Fun! But weird.

Microsoft? They're not in the hardware business in this timeline. When they launched the Xbox, Sega was on their last legs as a hardware developer. As great as the Dreamcast was, once the specs and capabilities of the PS2 came out - especially its ability to play DVDs - we all knew it wasn't going to last.

In this new timeline, Microsoft looks at a game hardware market with three thriving (or two thriving and one pretty close to thriving) competitors and simply going "nope". Give Dean Takahashi's book "Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution*" to see what a pain in the butt it was just to get the thing approved and made in the first place.

More than likely, the House that Bill Built would focus on what brought 'em to the dance - the PC. Improving Direct X (the graphics software the original Xbox was powered by to begin with) and trying to make PC gaming more accessible would probably be their goals here. After all, look at what they're doing in the PC market right now.

So, while we'd still have three consoles on the market, we'd also have three different companies, too. Media capability and apps would still be important, but we'd probably also see more improved hardware than we do now. And we might even have a more robust PC gaming market, too - and it's already pretty robust.