From a hardware perspective, nearly 80% of respondents said Microsoft's next console is the easiest to work with, and the overwhelming majority suspect it will be the sales leader over the next five years.

The ease of use compared to other consoles is assuredly attractive, too. By comparison, 63% of developers who spoke to IGN said the Wii U would be the most challenging platform to develop for. One creator went as far as saying, "we won't be working on Wii U due to these complexities," while another lamented the difficulty of moving innovative games unique to Wii U to other platforms. This poses the question: Will Nintendo once again need to rely primarily on first-party games to propel platform success?