Consoles are pretty heterogeneous IRL too, though. You have multiple SKUs (regular and Pro, for example), not to mention most games will also target multiple consoles (PlayStation + Xbox + Switch is a common combo).
So in reality the opportunities to really code against a specific piece of hardware are few and far between...
Heck, then you get into multiple operating modes of the same hardware - the Nintendo Switch has a different perf profile if it's docked vs. not.
SonOfLilit
This used to be less true at the time Carmack said it :>
djmips
The original Switch was launched in 2016 that's plenty of time with a stable platform. The multiple operating modes in practice can be approached by coding against un-docked ( handheld) and then adding bonus quality for docked.
Agentlien
This is exactly what I've been doing when optimizing games for the switch.
eru
A handful of variants for consoles is not nearly as bad as the almost limitless variety on PC.
So in reality the opportunities to really code against a specific piece of hardware are few and far between...
Heck, then you get into multiple operating modes of the same hardware - the Nintendo Switch has a different perf profile if it's docked vs. not.