I like to look at it another way. And yes, I'm intentionally ignoring Nintendo, because they are in a league of their own.
Xbox 360 has over 300% growth globally compared to the previous gen Xbox.
PS3 has only about 50% growth globally compared to the previous gen PS2.
Right now, as of this writing, Xbox 360 is on top in every category against the PS3. The xbox 360 has more console sales, more game sales by volume (even on games available on both platforms), has more games available on their platform, has more titles in the top 50 most popular games of all time, is a profitable console, and even with all that said, requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play online.
Microsoft is not fighting an uphill battle. Sony IS fighting an uphill battle.
Everyone keeps talking about how the PS4 is going to stomp on the next Xbox because they still have free online gaming, but I can nearly guarantee you that Sony is going to be the one making a big shift in business tactics in order to start making a profit, most likely moving their 'free' features over to the PSN+ 'paid' subscription instead.
If Microsoft reduced the Xbox Live Gold membership for next gen by about $25 a year (which I don't even consider them to ever do) it would destroy the PS4. While that's not going to happen, I'm very very willing to believe that paying for online gaming will be the norm with the PS4. In fact, I'm predicting them to do so.
On a side note, I don't understand all of these 'who's gonna win next gen' forum posts. We don't even know what the next Xbox is all about yet. You are comparing the PS4 to something that doesn't even exist publicly.
