I believe they will be here for at least another round of consoles. Microsoft have a lot of cash and they can spend some more until they have some real success for their investment in the area. Unless there is a change of management, I don't believe they will leave the game industry if only to not loose face in another failure.

@blackops

Quite agree with you, fair competition moves the VG industry foward

if anyone is going to drop, its sony. MS has america's support and thats all that matters.

none is going to drop out  at this point All three are doing Well..as for America supporting xbox360, yea..America supports Sony and Nintendo..So..

 I could see them leaving, as others have said it would be bad because of the lack of competition, but the ways Microsoft spends money it does not seem like they are in it for the long-haul. It's like they are getting in the pool slowly, instead of just dunking their head.

My main reason is because of the limited in-house development. If they were truely committed for the long-run, I think we would have seen them to invest in building first party studios as oppose to getting timed-exclusivity on GTA DLC. If they want to leave and go back to what they had before, then not being tied to game studios would make it a lot easier.

Also, Halo is not getting any younger, and Call of Duty has a stronger hold on the FPS crowd; I feel like Halo's future as a massive console selling IP will be more limited than it has been before. Not to say it won't move a lot of consoles, it will but to the extent it has already? Quenstionable.

Moreover third party exclusives are going the way of the dinosaur. While Gears of War is a hit, it's almost done, and there is no indication that Epic will continue to make AAA exclusives for the Xbox.  In the future, what third party exclusives, will either be finished or multiplat. Microsoft needs to create more critically acclaimed/commericially successful exclusives. Which goes back to my first point, limited first party support. Unless Masterchief becomes as timeless as Mario, the future of Microsoft first party support is foggy.  

that why sony start a price war last christmas of course. sony at least doing good games, microsoft just can't design reliable hardware, or software for the matter. tell me when xbox be without valve now timed exclusives and bungie success with halo? and they let em goooo.

well with sony and ms in the battle to get the hardcore audience id like to see someone coming in and battling nintendo for the casuals next gen, hopefully that would make nintendo up their game

I agree, I will get a 360 for exclusives also.

I am a nintendo fan but i did purchase a PS2 late in the last gen for the same reason.

And a psp this handheld generation to complement my DS

@WarmachineX Not America,only US.

Personally i'm really hoping that Kinect bombs and M$ lose market share. i dont care if they control a small market share, but i'm really hoping they lose this console war. i admit i'm a sony fan, but i've never liked M$ since their Windows operating systems, which are more expensive copies of the last one, only with added 'snap' features. to me there a company out to make a quick buck every instant they can. and i dont trust them. i think there more commited to making sure they exploit the consumer and lining their pockets.

a lot of people say that xbox live has been incredible innovation... yeah i agree it is, especaily when Dreamcast had it first. if you look at their operating systems, they bully smaller companies into submission and force them out, they want a monopoly on the gaming industry like they have on computer software. - i dread what they will do to gaming if they controlled the market. they'll charge you for every appliance, all games will be released with expensive DLC, i think even if they could, they'd charge you for saving you game!

steam is way more popular than the stuff M$ have for pcs, because M$ charge money for thier service!!