I think you really have a myopic way of looking at things. 

1. this isn't 1994
2. As with (1) the financial statement of gaming today is significant!y different than at a time when game development center around the use of sprites on a 2D plane. 
3. the average PS1 game cost $800k to $1.8M to make. the average snes game costs even less. The average PS4/XB1 game costs over $30M-$50M. 
4. in 1990's a game selling 1M copies was a big deal (platinum hits) today? a game selling 1M copies is a failure because it wouldn't recoup it's investment. Or at best it breaks even. 
5. lastly, what sense does it make comparing a console in this gen to the sales another console accomplished over 20yrs ago???!!! If you are gonna compare anything, compare it in a similar timescale with the platforms it's competing with. 

Personally im sone with MS consoles, first because I went through multiple 360's due to RROD, second because the xbox one was a horrible mis-step that pales in comparison to its competition, 3rd because everything worth playing on that console is better on PC.

That, Mario and gimmicks. Wii Mote, Wii U, GameCube ("portable") console. Sometimes its ok to just stick with what works fine tune it. You don't need to reinvent yourself with every release.

Funny thing is a lot of it was done on other consoles. Famicom had DLC. So did N64 and Dreamcast and DC had downloadable games. Broadband gaming? DC had a broadband adapter. Streaming video? Again Dreamcast had it with Dreameye. I could argue SNES Satelview was cloud games. You were playing a streaming game with the likes of BS Zelda. About everything he listed was a continuation of what has existed before just more advanced.  SEGA was 2nd to the big N and Nintendo is the most innovative console maker around.

Coming off the xbox360 which gained them a ton of ground in the console market, if you compare it to the xb1, it CAN be viewed as a "failure" but more like misstep by MS. Besides, he's saying that the xb1 falls between these two categories, not either or (At least, that is how I interpret it.) It isn't a failure but it isn't a rousing success, it just is. It's perfectly content being second fiddle to the PS4.

They tried. They just failed.

-HDMI in (which I still used) that allowed multiple apps to run at the same time.

-Kinect with every console for games and apps

-Whatever they called their new rumble

-awesome companion app (compared to the competition)

For most of the 8th generation, I didn't really think there was anything new that was really good from any company. WiiU had the second screen but nobody liked that. PS4 has the built in touch screen that nobody uses. Vita support that nobody uses. PSVR which is frigging awesome! I guess the game DVR is cool but not a revolution or anything. The Switch is great, though.

I'm just trying to be fair. To me, up until the Switch, this gen just felt like an updated version of last gen--right down to the remastered versions of last gen games.

Streaming video-- I meant Netflix

Cloud saving-as in you could store your saves in the cloud and download them later, even on a different device

But yeah, I guess Microsoft brought nothing new to gaming. But then, I could argue that, in some degree, nobody else (of the big three) did either.

I agree that we should keep this in mind.  I'm not 100% sure if Xbox was a failure or not at blocking Sony from entering the home computing space...for sure mobile / tablets has proven to be the greater threat to home computing, but Xbox kept Sony locked in a war over gaming for a decade, anyway.  Then again, the backlash against the initial PS3 with it's price point and feature-heavy hardware may go to show there was never as much of a threat as Microsoft thought?

All that said, you're right. MS justified bleeding money to keep Sony from entering the PC market, but Playstation isn't the right form for a PC takeover anymore, there's no justification to lose money on Xbox.

You are very defensive for a guy who buys a new Xbox every week. Netflix already existed. Really dumb to give them credit for it, esp when they made you pay to watch a paid service.   BS Zelda saved your game. I mean hell Netflix streaming was just an evolution of a TV tuner found on every handheld gaming system. Game Gear TV Tuner, Turbo Express, Nomad, GBA and more. It's like when people get defensive over the Wii being a better but still, a knockoff of the Xavix Port or Game.Com being the first handheld with a touch screen.  Hey, we even had an HD Bomberman game in 1993! MMO's in the 1970s! In fact, one MMO from the 70s is still online.

You hurt me.

I thought we were just having a constructive conversation. I'm not above acknowledging when I'm wrong. As you've pointed out, everything is an evolution of something else. Real revolutions in gaming are rare.