Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-665531-20130908012700

The years from 2007 to 2012 were a time of great growth for the video game console industry in the Ohga Shrugs timeline. That much has been known for a while. The question is, how would the major computer and entertainment companies of the world respond?

IRL, the two big non-gaming oriented companies in the console industry, Sony and Microsoft, are primarily hardware and software companies respectively. However, in Ohga Shrugs, there the console industry, despite its growth, has little overlap with other tech industries. Sure, AMD and/or Intel or whoever (still working out what exactly makes the 7th and 8th consoles tick) is making more money now, but companies like Apple aren't exactly threatened by the console industry.

However, the same can not be said for some other industries. Consoles in Ohga Shrugs, simply by being compatible with Netflix, are in indirect competition with the telecommunication industry, and consumer spending on games competes with other entertainment industries. This includes giants like Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, etc.

Could one of these companies become the "third console" in the Ohga Shrugs timeline?

One thing that cable companies can theoretically do is provide cheap hardware and have people pay subscriptions in order to play games on their machines, kind of like how TV already works. Since many of these companies are also phone companies, they can also ally themselves with a hardware company like Samsung, LG, Sony(!), etc.

Comcast
 * Largest Cable Company in USA, meaning direct competition for TV space
 * Also a huge internet provider, meaning digital distribution deals are possible
 * Owns majority share in the company that owns Universal, a decent-sized publisher in this timeline with several notable franchises
 * Also owns G4MobyGames, which in this timeline gives them a major information outlet to influence gamers
 * Chief weakness - Little experience making hardware or software

AT&T
 * One of the world's biggest non-oil companies
 * Major TV provider, once again in competition for TV screen
 * Once again, big internet provider, can be used for bundles
 * Chief Weakness - Little reason to be invested, as is not a major content provider

Nokia (Well, now Microsoft)
 * Made the N-Gage IRL
 * Already is a software and hardware maker, like Microsoft/Apple
 * Offers internet services
 * Actually, a pretty decent fit other than being now owned by Microsoft

What do you think? Are any companies good candidates for making a third console in Ohga Shrugs? Or should the market remain restricted to two systems, despite recent growth? 