Gees people are so pedantic and eager to put X360 down. What a black and white view to take, that X360 is winning NA right now (and for a while), which is obviously what the OP meant, he's asking if next gen it's going to lose that.

If MS can keep it up with what they are doing they have a good chance. The Xbox brand is becoming very popular in America and I image it will only become even more popular going into next gen as long as MS doesn't make any stupid mistakes.

If there is anything that this generation has taught us, it is that brand allegiance doesn't extend nearly so deep for the majority of gamers. Sony thought customer loyalty could carry them through the first few years of this gen. They shot themselves in the foot at the beginning of the race with absurd pricing and a mediocre opening debut.

If anyone said 6 years ago that the PS3 would be in third place near the twilight years of this console gen, they would probably be locked up in the loony bin.

So yes, Microsoft could easily lose NA next gen, a dumb move or two and everything could collapse just like that.

Agreed. Wii may have sold more consoles overall, but the Xbox 360 is doing much better right now and has much better momentum.

Besides, in terms of quality, the Xbox 360 trumps Wii all over the place anyway, speciall the online. I'm glad to own both 'losing' consoles of this generation, PS3 and Xbox 360. Also remembering the HD twins split markeshare with each other, and Wii doesn't manage to beat them combined.

Of course, like Seece said, anyone can lose it is they screw up. But if they keep up the good work, then there is no reason why they shouldn't win it. Especially if they carry over the achievements and all that stuff from xbox live.

Live Everywhere and M$'s 3 screen strategy will make it hard for them to lose momentum. PC/Mobile/Xbox will unify in the Cloud and the OS's will be integrated. The ability to share your content in one ecosystem, this will give the consumer more of an incentive to stick with M$.

Sony has a gaming console, no PC OS, no cell phone OS.
Nintendo has a gaming console , no PC OS and no cell phone OS.
Apple has iOS and Mac OS, but no gaming console.
Google has Android OS, but no gaming cosole.
M$ is the only one that has all 3 bases covered and integration among the 3.

I do think American gamers are more loyal to the Xbox brand than they were to the Sony brand last generation. Being an American product may have a small part, but it had more to do with the Xbox Live service and community it developed and also the fact that MS specifically catered to American tastes so well. I think the PS2 was more just a necessity to play the biggest library of games at the time.

I guess if they royally screw up, they can see some problems. However, I think the gaming press will do their best to protect their image unlike they did with the PS3, mainly due to advertising dollars being thrown around.

Proof of how much the Americans love the Xbox brand can be explained by the hardware reliability issues at the beginning. I thought that would be a big enough screw up to deter people to the competition - but it obviously wasn't. Halo, Gears, and Xbox Live at the time was so important for most people.

I second this (and Seece's comment)... Wii might have the biggest install base by a wide margin this gen, but the 360 consistently has multi-platinum week-one sales for the biggest games currently on the market like MW3, Gears 3, and Skyrim.  Even the PS3's software sales are doing extremely well in comparison to the Wii... meanwhile, the Wii hasn't had a multi-platinum debut release since NSMBWii launched over 2 years ago... and it still managed "only" 2.2 million units WW week 1.

Last year's big Wii title, DKC Returns, couldn't even reach a million units sold WW in its first week.  And now the next installment in Nintendo's biggest and most beloved franchise, Skyward Sword, will be lucky to break 2 million units WW week 1 for a console that has a WW install base of nearly 90 million.  MW3 in comparison did nearly 7 million units week 1 on 360 alone, and Skyrim did 2 mil on 360 all by itself.  And next year you have GTAV, Halo 4, and the next COD all lined up to sell like gangbusters on the 360.  If Wii U doesn't at least have COD at launch (not holding my breath for GTAV at launch), Nintendo might as well throw in the towel, because it'll just prove that they still don't get it.

i dont believe so, not anytime soon that is

MS are only growing there fanbase in EU and has done remarkably better in JP. . . compared to the 1st X-box

MS and there X-box are aiming to take over the world, besides JP i think they will accomplish this in the near future


for US i really dont think (or wont next gen) the current other 2 console manufactures produce exclusive SW that make US citizens flock to them on release week. bottom line is MS is an american company they know better then the other 2 what the majority of americans want in there SW, unless sony or nintendo can figure this science out quick (b/c i believe all 3 manufactures are working/scheming on next gen exclusives as we speak) then i believe they dont have a chance in hell to be console market leader in US for the 8th gen

It all depends if they keep getting head starts.