What would you consider the biggest what if in video games.
I guess the thing that would completely change the face of gaming is whether or not Sony actually got to complete their deal with Sega or Nintendo.
Because that's how we got the Playstation, right. Sony had a deal with Nintendo for a CD add-on to the SNES, and Nintendo felt like Sony wanted too much control in that deal so they broke it off even though there was functioning prototype hardware.
Sony then tried to strike up a deal with Sega, given their Imagesoft studio already had a good relationship with them. Sega also turned them down.
So Sony took their ball, went home, and built their own hardware. That became the Playstation and it took over the world.
If Nintendo completes that deal, then the entire industry changes for the next 30 years. When or if we get the Playstation changes, when or if we get the Playstation 2 changes, Nintendo sticking to cartridges through the Nintendo 64 changes, everything about the Gamecube probably changes, and who knows if we even get the Wii at all. The motion control fad never happens, the Kinect never happens, the Nintendo DS might not happen.
Or let's say Nintendo rejects Sony but Sega realizes what they've got on their hands. The Saturn becomes a completely different device. The Dreamcast becomes a completely different device. Sega would probably still be in the hardware business to this day. Or maybe they would eventually be completely absorbed by Sony and cease to exist. In which case Sony might become even more powerful, leading to a radically different Playstation 3.
The creation of the PS1 is a point in time that splits off into some very interesting alternate universes.
