I think the metaphor is great. Calling an adult cat dead would indeed be extreme. But calling a perfectly working piece of hardware dead is also extreme. I wouldn't call my toaster dead because the people who made it don't make toasters anymore.

We've become far to accustomed in this day and age to accept that because something has software on it that it's expiration date is decided by the company that made it. Cats don't work like that, toasters don't work like that, and neither should game consoles.

In practice that means modding is very important. And unfortunately many companies make that very difficult or impossible. But we should celebrate any product where that is possible, even at launch and its estore equivalent is still around.

Edit: dead cat not alive cat