The Sales Cross Over: It's Real. What are the implications industry wide?

[DoesWhatNintenDont]

TheSource said:
Don't expect Microsoft to pull out after this generation. Losses right now are like ~$7,000,000,000 for the Entertainment Division since Xbox launched. By the end of the generation, losses will either be ~$10,000,000,000 (Microsoft keeps losing money) or more like $ ~5,000,000,000 (360 becomes profitable for a while).

Most analysts believe Microsoft won't leave unless they lose over $20,000,000,000 on Xbox brand/consoles/gaming. They have at least two more generations of huge losses for that. At some point before then, I think that Microsoft will be consistently profitable in the industry.

Source,

Most of those analysts were making that prediction pre-Vista launch. Granted Vista has made money, but overall it has been VERY poorly received by the mass market. MS's monopoly will naturally push Vista to higher numbers, but the public is becoming more aware of Windows alternatives.

While this isn't hugely significant yet, what we are seeing is pieces of MS's monopoly slowly start to chip. I for one HIGHLY doubt that we will see MS run themselves twenty billion in the red with Xbox before they pull out.

They are already having slower than expected sales on many of their products,( Zune anyone? ) thus their overall net profits are not going to be riding on a high for the next few years unless they are really able to bank their money on other invested endeavors.