Too many are stuck on price point, how many generation will it take to get past the stupid $399 US price point mentality.
Any gamer would not blink at paying $100 more for a system that offers much more and that has a life span of over half a decade. If they don’t then it’s time to stick with current gen or take up walking the dog and throwing a frisbee.
Well, I’d contend that ”any gamer” wouldn’t mind paying $500 more, and be free of console platform holder royalties, free to upgrade any component of their system as desired at any point in time suitable, free to choose rendering settings that suit their preferences in terms of responsiveness.
Yet, in spite of this, consoles enjoy a reasonable sales volume. And the main reason for that is price point. Because not all consumers are ”gamers”, not all buyers of consoles buy for themselves but for kids, and so on.
And always remember that there is a gaming platform called mobile, where the cost of entry is effectively zero for someone who has a smart device anyway.
It may be that the only reason the console business model survives is industry inertia. If I were a platform holder, I would be very very careful before rocking the boat in any major way, or they may loose even more casuals to mobile, and price others out of their walled gardens. (Microsoft probably wouldn’t mind too much if they lost gamers to Windows, but then again not too much profit will find its way into their pockets if so.)