Honestly...looking back I don't know or understand how or why Xbox was ever all that popular. It had a huge surge in 2005-2009, but to be honest I genuinely think they got lucky there, by having Sony botch so spectacularly. 

The original Xbox was NOT a successful console, barely selling more than the famously poor-selling Gamecube. It had a few hit franchises but it really didn't have a huge audience. 

The Xbox 360 had a huge start with dozens of amazing exclusives and ideas, capitalizing on Sony's failures and running roughshod on its competition...but once the PS3 picked up, that console proved to sell more than the 360 in the end, resulting in the 360 - Microsoft's best-selling console ever - in last place that generation. And why? They couldn't keep up the pace into the second half of that generation. 

And the Xbone has been a flop since day 1. Poor PR, poor exclusives, then no exclusives due to PC and eventually Switch getting them, and no real place to pick up the slack, with virtually nothing of value on the console (outside of Game Pass) for the last 3 years of this generation. 

Given their history, I predict they'll do well for the first 2-3 years of the next generation but then flop hard as PS5 and Switch continue to dominate. Honestly, they've NEVER been all that successful, with two of their consoles flopping hard despite having a lot of presence in US/UK, and the third having a great start but unable to stick the landing. They're just not good at this. 

Sony had the exact inverse problem, and Nintendo has always been all over the board. Sony's PS1 came out and dominated the incumbent leader (Nintendo), then made records with their followup, the PS2. They dipped and did poorly with the PS3's first half - the same half that Microsoft capitalized on - then came back in the latter half of that generation and once again dominated with the PS4. For comparison's sake, PS's weakest offering (PS3) sold more than Microsoft's best (360).

And since this is a thread comparing Xbox and Nintendo, that's a bit harder given Nintendo's long history and fluctuations. The NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube all had declines in popularity, only to spike in the Wii era and flop again in WiiU. The Switch is back to doing remarkably well (And let's be honest, I think Nintendo does best when they innovate or think outside the box. The same pattern can be seen with the portable lines, with Game Boy, Game Boy Advance decline, then the DS/3DS decline).

I think that a healthy gaming environment has two distinct companies. Sony for the basics, high resolution stuff, HD games, core games, and indies...while Nintendo does all the wacky, out-of-the-box thinking stuff. We have creativity, we have power, we have variety, etc. Microsoft just fails at doing what its competition does. I kinda feel sorry for it, becuase Sony having good competition is good....but they have not had that. 

Man, I sound like an F-word. I just like comparing, though. That, and after buying an Xbox 360 and Xbone and never playing them (I literally spend more time Netflixing and updating firmware on my Xbone than I ever did playing games on it), I'm completely lost as a customer of theirs. Hell, I didn't even bother buying Cuphead on Xbone because I got it on Switch and had it on PC first. Just no reason to have an Xbox. No wonder it flopped in the long run. 

It's shocking that there are still people out there who doubt that Nintendo and Capcom had a Monster Hunter deal. It was understandable in the early stages of the deal that there was doubt, but over time it should have become undeniable that there was a deal because PS consoles altogether were blocked by it.

But the same line of thinking has to hold true for the current situation. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate was released for the 3DS in early 2017, so we are now closing in on three years without a new Monster Hunter for a Nintendo console. There hasn't even been any kind of announcement yet.

Similarly, you have to consider how Sony makes deals. It has been common for them to not buy outright exclusivity and leave the door open for PC versions because that lowers the cost of the deal. Now think about how much of an impact the existence of Monster Hunter World on Xbox One has; not only is the installed base of Microsoft's console incredibly low in Japan, as far as I remember the Xbox version didn't even get released in Japan. But either way, MHW was going to be effectively a console exclusive for PS in Japan. When the objective is merely to block Nintendo, it's not worth paying to withhold an Xbox version that isn't going to be important anyway. Likewise, Sony's deal with Capcom has to only concern MH games going forward because an HD port of a 3DS game isn't going to be competitive with all-new games.

If the entirety of 2020 passes without news of a new MH game for Switch, then there should be no doubt anymore that Sony has paid to keep MH off Switch, because that's the only sound business reasoning for Capcom to not use their cash cow on a highly successful console that is already known to have a significant audience for MH games because of all the MH games on the 3DS as well as the solid sales of 3DS port on Switch.

Sure.

Total lack of 1st party games.  The first Xbox had Microsoft pushing for a lot of great exclusives.  You could say this about the 360 too for the first half of it's life.  But the XBO is totally lacking.  Where is Scalebound?  Where is Project Gothem Racing?  For a company selling a games machine how has this happened?

But we know how this happened, its a total failure of management at Microsoft.  From creating a console with features no one wanted, mis-management of 1st party studios to behind the scenes stuff like ID @Xbox (remember that?!).  The console sucks because the people that made it cocked up every single aspect around it.

Here's the big difference between Xbox and Sony.  When Sony fucked up the PS3 launch, they worked hard on the one thing that could actully get them back in the race; Games.

Microsoft have spent their time doing Xcloud, Backward compatibility and pushing for cross play.  All nice things, but a complete waste of time if you don't have the number one thing people actually want the console for; GAMES!

You could say that they are holding back now to bring everything to scarlet.  But that's a shit excuse.  When Sony fucked up, they made damn sure that by the end of the PS3's life it had killer games on it.  How come Microsoft haven't managed this too?  Because Xbox management is inept.

That's why Xbox sucks.

That is rather fitting and likely a coincidence. Microsoft is likely going to go all out to start the next generation on the right foot. 

Luck isn't needed here, just BOTW 2, Next 3d Mario, and more Pokemons.