I agree with Squilliam on his OP and all his responses.
I think what most of us hardcore gamers, yes I said "hardcore" because if you spend an iota of your life commenting on a gaming site, then you are not casual, forget is the product diversity of each console maker.
Nintendo being the smallest and least diverse console maker has to create killer apps and has the best and most nostalgic 1st party exclusives because it is their bread and butter, their lifeline so to say. If Nintendo does not consistently put out a good video game, then they have nothing else to fall back on.
Sony is bigger than both Microsoft and Nintendo in product diversity. If their video game division fails to turn an annual profit, they can subsidize the loss somewhere else like in music or television. Sony has more and arguably better exclusives than Microsoft for a variety of reasons going back to what made the PS1 a success.
Microsoft, in reality, is not a video game company. They are a consumer electronics company who has climbed to the echelons by creating the most desired platforms for businesses, government, education, and individual consumers to use in their work and play. From Windows to Xbox Live, Microsoft has created platforms that are easily learned if the time is spent learning them and easy to use and develop for if you are willing to spend the money.
Microsoft is staying around because it is a platform that is easier to develop for than Sony or Nintendo. It may not have the killer apps or Crash Bandicoot, but what it allows for is indie developers to show the industry their skills in hopes of creating another Minecraft or landing a gig. Quite unconventional, but Microsoft as a platform company works and they have the profit margins to show for.
