Ever since the start of console gaming, there has always been talk about having only one system and ultimately doing away with first party exclusive titles and having ported, often very different games. With the drop out of SEGA from the console market in the 90s there was a brief period where really only two consoles, the N 64 and Sony PS1 were real competitors. In this period of time we saw a bit of fracturing in the games market in terms of fan base. Console exclusives became the reason to own both systems and ultimately if you couldn’t, it was a difficult decision today.
However we live in a world where first party exclusives are becoming less and less relevant as the PC market continues to grow with sales. The reason is many third party developers realize that they can reach a larger market than just siding with one console as before. Now consoles either have to pay a crap ton of money to actually make sure the game becomes an exclusive, or they have to make the majority of their games in house. However I think as time goes on, more people will decide to abandon the console market because of the competitive titles available on the PC through applications like Steam.
The biggest and by far the largest benefit to consoles is the relatively low cost and the ease of setup compared to a computer. Many people don’t want to deal with home computer setups and tweaking specific games. However eventually a company might come along and make an all in one tiny computing console that will be able to give you access to almost all of the games on the PC market, at a set price and affordable cost. Steam tried to do this and ultimately wasn’t too successful, but they might end up trying it again in a few years if there is a possibility of success.
Many of the companies like Nintendo, which are holding out on the PC market in order to sell consoles might actually be making less money in the long run. In house software accounts for the majority of the profit margin for these companies, as the hardware is sold at a lower than desirable price so they can get the software sales. It might end up being the case in a few years that Nintendo might decide to do more software and they would earn more money in the long run, especially with digital downloads where no physical copy has to be distributed.
Competition is good for the market and the consumer as a whole, but with only 3 main consoles there is still a big problem. One of the best things about PC digital distribution is that on steam or g2a many people can buy games 3 years old for near nothing, while if you go on the console app store they will still sell them for $20. There is a much better competitive spirit with the PC and playing a large amount of games is what is drawing many in over consoles today. I think in the future many of the companies we buy from might just decide to move to creating software and end up being more profitable long term. Only time will tell, but if that is the case, first party exclusives wont exist and the consumer ends off better for it.
Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges