I could be wrong but I believe that Natal is a key piece of Microsoft's next generation strategy and a clear rejection of it by the market would be very damaging to Microsoft ...
Whether people are ready to believe it or not, Microsoft is probably talking to third party publishers about their next generation console already because it will take them years to plan and develop software to be ready for launch; and it isn't likely that Microsoft would wait much past Christmas 2011 or 2012 to release their next system. It is likely that Microsoft is already talking about how the Natal will work on both the XBox 360 and their next generation platform, and trying to sell it as a viable platform to capture a broader audience of gamers. If Natal fails, not only will it hurt Microsoft's relationship with XBox 360 developers who choose to take advantage of it, it will also hurt their relationship with their closest developers because they will be gambling on both the small userbase of a launch system and the demand of Natal.
