Anyone believe or hope Microsoft will leave the videogame business?

[lestatdark]

WilliamWatts said:

thx1139 said:

WilliamWatts said:

thx1139 said:
Couple of things.

1. 360 has been profitable for 2+ years. Yes they havent yet made up the initial losses on the original Xbox and Xbox 360 (with RRoD set aside), but by the end of this generation the Xbox 360 itself will be profitable.

2. If any hardware manufacturer were to exist hardware business I would want it to be Nintendo. There is nothing that the Wii hardware (not controllers) provides that the 360 and PS3 dont provide. In fact they provide more. Nintendo could continue to build incredibly successful software, but no need for them to provide hardware except for accessories.

By that metric Sony should leave. I mean theres nothing they provide that Microsoft doesn't do better in terms of hardware profitability/network etc. Maybe they should become a publisher and just sell games? It worked out so well for Sega.

Difference is you can see that in the hardware space Sony is indeed trying and some (especially on these boards) would say that Sony is the one setting the bar.  Nintendo doesnt even attempt.

What bar are they setting, exactly? The most cost inefficient console to hit the market in recent times? Nintendo sets the bar for cost/performance as seen by the N64 and Gamecube, they set the bar for first party effectiveness and they set the bar for how to make money in the business. They are the most powerful publisher of content in the business bar none. Thats all they need to differentiate their console from others.

I just want to say that you're entirely right about your points about Nintendo, except one.

They also did a huge mistake in the hardware business, the biggest blunder in this industry so far, bigger than the Atari Jaguar. The Virtual Boy. Which also caused the fall of the biggest Portable designer in the history of the market, Gunpei Yokoi.