Didn't EA at one point publicly declare they would never make their own console cuz there's too much risk and they're making money hand over fist as it is?
Either way, exploring the hypothetical, I don't actually mind EA as much as most people seem to. I abhor their business practices, but that is because I abhor the nature of business itself. If other companies could do it as well they would *cough*Activision*cough*, the fact that EA is good at it doesn't make them any worse than the rest who wish they could.
I absolutely hate how they come out with a new sports game every single year. I also hate how because, for some reason, that mentality seems justified with updated rosters, franchises, etc., that other companies all of a sudden start expanding that mentality to cover every subject matter that could be considered a sport, such as WWE. THQ used to come out with wrestling games every couple years on the 64 once there was a significant amount added to the game to warrant a new one. But now they follow EA's model of annual releases as though a wrestling game needed an annual update.
However, Madden is consistently one of the top selling games year after year. As a business, it doesn't make sense for them to stop operating this way until it stops making them money. If EA were to make a console I think it would become over saturated with this concept running in the back of their minds. It might do extremely well, but I wouldn't buy it, or I would at least hold off for many years until the price dropped, because the games that would have launched with the system would be the same games coming out that year as well.