The only thing a console should excite anyone about is its role as a middle-of-the-road solution: a cheaper entry point than a PC but with fewer features and worse graphics/performance; more expensive than streaming but with the benefits of native gaming.
Anything else is either gone or extremely reduced from what it once was. Innovative controllers? Not really. Nintendo still tries something, but overall, they have aligned more with traditional designs. Exclusives? They still exist to some extent, but fewer games than ever before are exclusive. Most of Sony’s titles eventually end up on PC, and while the Switch had a solid run, a good chunk of its ‘exclusives’ were just Wii U ports. I doubt they will be able to repeat that with the Switch 2.
Ease of use? The more features they try to incorporate, the less user-friendly they become. Even something as basic as finding a good game on their store without an external resource is a pain. Standardized experience? Not anymore. Now we have at least three different performance modes, plus whatever exclusive mode the ‘pro’ console will introduce.
Physical media? PlayStation still supports it, but many games are now digital-only. On the Switch, it’s already a coin toss whether the full game is on the cartridge or if you’ll need to download a large portion of it. With the Switch 2, I fully expect that to get even worse. And with Xbox, they might as well not exist as the games are rarely on the disc.
