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Nintendo generally doesn't go beyond 6-7 years. Since Sony takes more risk than Nintendo Sony announced after their first gen they are using ten year profitability plans. Nintendo consoles are made cheaply because it ensures profit even though they don't push their consoles technologically. That is the reason Sony introduced the ten year plan, because they knew ten years would make up for the risk and bring them back into profitability. The ten year plan is why the PS2 sold as much as it did in the long run and also why the PS3 continued to profit after 2010.
Sony takes more risk then Nintendo??? 10 year support not plan. Sony 1st party studios did not bring out games on the PS2 for 10 years. Sony did not extend any of the capabilities of the PS2. Instead Sony kept making the unit because it was still being sold at a profit and they still get paid for games released on the system. How is that a plan. It gives nothing to the current gamer and only just feeds into Sony pockets. The WiiU and the Wii show way more risk then anything Sony has done within the games market for years. While MS and Sony go for broke on making another system that output better visuals, only Nintendo tries to actually change the way you play games and improve on the experience. It goes against the other console makers and is way more risky as a result.
Its not that simple, its a return on their investment. Support goes without saying. Microsoft vowed to follow Sony with their ten year plan, thus why the 360 will continue to shadow the PS3 even into its eleventh year. Next year the Xbox 360 will be a decade old. This means Sony will pull the plug on the PS3 in 2016 and MS following shortly after even though they launched a year ahead. MS always follows Sony.
Its just as simple as you stated. Whether its a return on investement or just a money making machine its the same thing. The PS3 has to have a 10 year plan because it lost so much during the first 5 years it will take that long to if not greater to break even. The PS2 stretched that long because it was making money while the PS3 was losing it. If anything thats not a substainable plan and one no company would be proud of. Its what kept Sony in the red even today and I am not sure why you would promote it as something good.
Microsoft unveiled a market that was emerging from the PC market. Sony doesn't understand the PC market, but obviously they understand the console one. Every lesson MS has ever taught Sony or Nintendo has come from the already written book of PC. Multiplayer online? PC. Do you want Indie games? PC. The console realm was headed in that direction as Sony ushered consoles into the the direction of highly computerized multimedia devices. MS just helped them reach their goals sooner by giving them something to follow that they kept failing that. Eventually they would've succeeded.
Not buying it. Sony demeanor and policies concerning indies was how the console indurstry at that time viewed them. They were not important. MS comes into the game and give indies a shot. MS develop XBL and give indies a shot. Sony only changed after they saw the success of XBL and understood that games are what important not what category a developer belong to. The console industry did not start to move towards indie friendly until the Iphone and later android market made them popular. Long before those products made indie important, MS has already paved the way. I will give kudos for Sony changing policies faster than MS for the PS4 launch but then again its almost as if they needed to because of the limited amount of first party development so far.
