What made Microsoft succeed where Sega could not?

[Zappykins]

spurgeonryan said:

Do I need to explain why Sega was popular in the first place? I think HappyD explained it all perfectly in his thread about why third parties left Nintendo. Because Nintendo had horrible policies against them for the longest time and took too long to correct them. Sega did not. Also they had some of the best games of all time. Which makes it all the more sad when they were forced out of the home console business about 10 years ago. Sure, we still get yearly Sonic games and other grand ideas from Sega, but things will never be the same.

But, where Sega failed, Microsoft has seen success. They have taken over the third console spot and showed the world that it is possible for this to happen. There is room for three home consoles battling it out for supremacy. What has Microsoft done that Sega could not? Is it just because they have unlimited money and would never go down like Sega did? Did they have to be successful in this area since APPLE dominated them in the mobile market and even hit them hard with the Mac for a while?

Lets face it, the original Xbox really was not that amazing, but they flourished enough to make the amazing 360.

Maybe this has been answered before, but I did not care enough at the time to find out. So now I am asking.

The original Xbox was a huge innovator, and pusher of new technology.  They delayed it so it would be twice as powerful as their biggest competitor.   In a time where few people had high speed internet connections, a still not eveone using a modem, they only had a high speed connection, break away controlers, and an included hard drive.   Plus Microsoft gives its developers the best tools to develop with by far.

Sure money helps keep the company operating, but it is foolish to ignore, the passon, innovation and resourcefulness of the company.