It wont for simple economic reasons: if (big IF) consoles really go down in popularity that means there wont be enough users to justify selling units at a loss, the main reason why consoles were always cheaper than gaming rigs.
Just look at the history of consoles, there were many models that had small userbases and thus were a niche. All failed, no exceptions.
Nobody is going to subsidize a console if there aren't enough game sales to get that investment back.
Similarly if people stopped buying smartphones then carriers would stop subsidizing them, so iPhones would cost $600 and then who would want one? not nearly enough people to justify current production levels, and BTW without those it would be far more than $600 without a subsidy.
Hardcore gamers, "purists", are already using highend gaming rigs that cost several times more than a console does. But they are a minority and sales numbers prove it.
If all this happened then consoles would disappear, or morph into something resembling the Phantom, which BTW failed big time.
Just look at the history of consoles, there were many models that had small userbases and thus were a niche. All failed, no exceptions.
Nobody is going to subsidize a console if there aren't enough game sales to get that investment back.
Similarly if people stopped buying smartphones then carriers would stop subsidizing them, so iPhones would cost $600 and then who would want one? not nearly enough people to justify current production levels, and BTW without those it would be far more than $600 without a subsidy.
Hardcore gamers, "purists", are already using highend gaming rigs that cost several times more than a console does. But they are a minority and sales numbers prove it.
If all this happened then consoles would disappear, or morph into something resembling the Phantom, which BTW failed big time.