Which Company Do You See Leaving the Console Business First?

[Namhcir]

Sony is by far the most profitable company right now in terms of consoles, and will remain that way for the next ~5 years considering the Ps4 is looking to reach the mythical Ps2 numbers. Microsoft or Nintendo will likely be the first ones out.

I think Nintendo is more likely to leave first due to their consoles not doing well since the beginning of the Wii era (at the end of era, they had horrid software attachment rates, actually bleeding money due to the fact they first party developed most of their games). Nintendo will never make games for other consoles however, for as long as they dominate the mobile market thats where all their games will go. They will become "handheld consoles" if you will, and likely have a way of attaching to the TV with wireless controllers as the new friendly party based system and mobile device hybrid. This is the only way I see Nintendo surviving. They have a huge bank (due to mobile), but you can't eat losses forever.

Microsoft as a company has struggled a lot with hardware sales accross the board, not just in consoles. I wouldn't be surprised to see the company double down on software and release all their hardware brands to another company... there is just so much money to be made in other markets (virtualization) that theres no reason for a company that big to spend so much time and money on the consoles to not make any money. They ate such huge losses for the classic Xbox that the 360 turned their gaming division profitable from the initial investment just recently. Just too much overhead for such little success..

Sony is the company that is in by far the most trouble, however their console/gaming market is the one bright spot for the company. Don't expect to see them get out of the console business any time soon, they may corner the market on it in the next 5-10 years exclusively. As a company they will likely drop their other hardware assets like TV, PC, etc and become almost exclusively a multimedia company (save for the consoles, until they become obsolete.. which they will).. movies, games, streaming services.