I think sony was heading in that direction with the PS3 anyway. And Live isn't free. That's a step backwards IMO.
Live isn't free, true. But PSN isn't free anymore on PS4. And PS3 was after Live. Xbox has had Live before the 360/PS3 generation.
Was the 360 a successful product for Microsoft? In terms of unit sales, yes, it was, but did the 360 make Microsoft an overall net profit? No, the 360 was an abject failure, Microsoft lost billions from the 360. Therefore it is in my opinion that the 360 was an abject failure, in fact the only successful console out of the last generation consoles was the Wii which netted Nintendo a massive net profit due to its cheap hardware, it's price point, it's software and the popularity of the product.
I actually think Microsoft investors are right to want to see the back of Zune, Bing, the Xbox and Surface. If these business ventures are losing Microsoft money then Microsoft should seek to sell these unprofitable ventures.
Also the XB1 is doing well and if it nets Microsoft an overall net profit, then I think Microsoft will keep the Xbox Division, if it doesn't then I think there will be pressure on Nadella to sell off the division.
It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft were forced to asset strip the Xbox division and sell off the individual parts to other companies. I doubt many companies would be prepared or would be able to afford the entire division, it will cost a company billions and as you say if it's an unprofitable division would many companies really want to take a risk with it?
That said all the moves Microsoft are making at the moment suggest to me that they see themselves a part of the games industry for the long-term. They've just bought Gears of War and they are planning to go into the PC gaming market from what I've read.
Neither has Sony and yet Sony has been hailed as this great games company. All Sony and Microsoft have done along with companies like Electronic Arts is make the games industry all about treating the consumer as a cash cow. At least with Nintendo you get a full game for your money, you don't get half a game with the rest sold to you via a season pass. Bugs and glitches are kept to a minimum with Pokemon X and Y being the only Nintendo game in recent time that I recall having a glitch and that glitch never once affected me and apparently it was fixed within a week or two.
This is why the industry needs Nintendo because they're the only company that really cares about creating great products and cares about their customers not to rip them off with DLC, microtransactions and broken games.
Sony were forced in that direction by Sega with the Dreamcast and Microsoft's introduction to the console industry. I believe the Dreamcast was the first console with an Ethernet port on their console.
Show me where Microsoft lost billions on the Xbox 360. I know they lost, at the start, money on the console because the parts where expensive. But now, that isn't true. Then you consider the massive sales of Halo 3, Halo 4, and Xbox Live. And come on, when Sony provided PSN free, and MS Charged for Xbox Live, are you saying they didn't make money on that? Then, with every game sold, they make about 7 dollars per game sold. http://www.businessi...-day-one-2011-4 here is proof that Microsoft is now making billions of dollars per quarter of the year.
So, you can say the Xbox lost them billions, but they also made billions. Plus, the Xbox branding is bigger then the Windows brand. And with the Xbox, Microsoft is finally obtaining its goal of being the center of everyone home. Which is a pretty big dream Bill Gates had.
Plus, I'm not even sure the Xbox One is loosing Microsoft money per unit sold. In fact, according to my research, MS is making about $20 per X1 sold. http://www.tntgamer....e-cost-to-make/
So, once again, say all you want Microsoft is loosing billions on Xbox. But, that's just no longer true.
