MS and Sony should give up the fight for marketshare. Agree?

[Demotruk]

thismeintiel said:
Why does this discussion even exist? All companies compete for marketshare and profit, simultaneously. More marketshare equals more profits in the long run, even at the expense of profits short term. If Sony had sold the PS3 at a profit at launch, ~$800-900, no one would have bought it. Then no one would have bought their accessories/games, so no profit at all there.

Not only this but it gives companies a better chance at the success of their next product. A popular previous product that devivers usually gives that company a loyal fanbase who are there waiting for their next product. Given the same scenerio as above, if Sony released the PS3 at profit and no one bought it, then they would likely have to withdraw from this gen after a year or so. If they tried to come back after this gen, many would have a lower opinion of them and therefore would be less likely to buy their system.

The real question is why does the OP feel this now. Especially after Sony has made a real push and it is paying off for them. They are gaining marketshare and are very close to making the PS3 hardware profitable. So who's marketshare is he worried is going to be going down? Are does he just not someone's to go up?

Gaining marketshare does not necessarily lead to more profit. Just look how much Sony has lost in the fight for marketshare. And they are going to have to start the fight from the beginning again next gen. Paying billions for customer loyalty? That might work in other industries but it doesn't seem to in the games industry. Nintendo supposedly had customer loyalty with NES but that didn't stop them from losing a fair chunk to Sega in the next gen, and continue to lose customers until Wii. Surely PS2 had a HUGE amount of loyal customers, but they don't seem to be sticking around to support the PS3. The idea that marketshare this gen automatically translates to marketshare next gen is false, and the cost involved is immense.