I would agree that the game is changing, and no one company really knows what they are doing. A few companies have more or less stumble into success, and even they will tell you the criteria required for success still an unknown.
Your meme example is short sighted or maybe not as descriptive of the current gaming market as you believe. The bets being made today by some companies is that they will capture more revenue long term. To tie it to your example, they are betting that they may lose the sprint, but they win the marathon. Also, this console war mentality of "if you aren't first, you are last" only exists in the minds of these console warriors, and doesn't represent reality.
This also suggest that the "old ways" of judging a games success, may not hold as much importance in the near future. I don't find it odd at all that you have people with different ideas of success.