Will all of the Big 3 survive next generation?

[JEMC]

Hard to say, and the most sensible answer would be none of them. It's a very lucrative business.

But, since there is no fun in that, I'll guess and say that it will be Nintendo who leaves the home console hardware market.

Both Microsoft and Sony see their consoles not only as consoles, but also as multimedia devices that can also be used to sell some of their other products, gadgets like Kinnect and software like Win8 in the case of Microsoft and TVs, HiFi, etc as well as their music and movie services in the case of Sony.

That leaves us with Nintendo, which sees the consoles as a way to sell their games. What effect does the hardware side of their business have? As of late, it only makes them lose money. Sure, having their own console was a good move in the past but now it's going against them. Because of this, and the pressure of their shareholders to develop for other devices (mostly smartphones), they are the most prone to quit the hardware side of the business and go third party.

But as I said, I don't expect anyone to leave anytime soon.