I think that Sony's strategy, of holding onto their most important assets (their employees) will certainly pay off for them in the long term, whereas MS is just setting themselves up for a future struggle, and a reboot of their gaming division, which will cost a ton.
I suppose you could argue that they have to prepare for the likely impending poor sales of Windows 7 (or whatever its called), thanks to the economy, and companies/individuals unwillingness to upgrade. But that shouldn't impact how they do business, with regards to games.
I have to wonder... why the shift away from 1st party development? Why the closings? I thought they were successful and profitable, even during the poor economic downturn? Many of their 2nd party offerings have been utter failures (some were decent though)... are they abandoning the X360 to the 3rd parties, and the occasional 2nd party contract? Have the studio closings temporarily inflated Microsoft's recent operating income reports, while their current lineup of great 1st party titles moves off the shelves?
So many questions is a bad thing. Sony doesn't seem to be hiding anything -- they're curling up, rationing, and trying to ride out the storm, such that they can come out swinging when its over. Microsoft chopped off some of its appendages so it could fit inside a smaller shelter, instead. That doesn't bode well for the future, IMO. Good dev studios are not commodities to be bought and sold at will. You don't let them go, to survive on their own, when you're finished with them -- you support them, and encourage them to grow. Turnover is one of the game industries worst problems, and lack of turnover is almost universally cited as the main reason studios like SCE's studios, Blizzard, Bungie, Value, etc. do so well, product, after product, after product.
MS has taken that knowledge... and kinda given it the bird. Bold, I guess.
