I think there is a reasonable chance that XBox is sold. Not this year, but if sales trend downward by this time next year we could be looking at MS exploring getting rid of the product.
At that stage, Nintendo could be one of several interested parties. Nintendo is buying back about 8% of its outstanding shares in preparation of an acquisition or merger. It would make reasonable sense for Nintendo to buy the XBox brand and assets in 2015 for some cash with MS taking a 10% stake in Nintendo. Nintendo would gain a collection of western studios and their IPs (which are different and complimentary to Nintendo's own), an already-developed next-gen system and strong online framework. The platform would also be 3rd party friendly, something Nintendo hasn't seen in some time.
Nintendo could then re-launch the XBOne with Nintendo branding, perhaps at a lower price without Kinnect. MS could perhaps continue to manage the Online network under contract, guaranteeing revenues, with perhaps a royalty for the OS and an agreement for future OS sales. MS could go from losing money selling hardware to having guaranteed profit from selling OS and Online infrastructure to a console hardware maker. This is the preferred MS business model - it's not like they make PC's.
This proposal in the editorial actually makes some sense. I think it is one of several possibilities that could play out next year if XBOne fails to take off. I can see several other companies interested in the XBox brand too. It's a fun topic to discuss.
