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Machiavellian on 19 February 2016
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RolStoppable said:
Machiavellian said:

It really does not matter why MS entered the console business a long time ago because the leadership has changed radically since then.  Actually MS as a company has radically changed from that period so trying to look at the pass to determine who MS will run in the future is pretty much a waste of time.  Instead you should be looking at the direction of MS today and their future plans to try to understand where the Xbox division will go.

There is some merit to this argument.

What we could witness in the last few years is that Xbox has certainly lost importance for Microsoft. When it started, the console business was allowed to throw billions of dollars down the drain, but nowadays Xbox has to sustain itself instead of being subsidized by other divisions. Hence why Sony is able to get so many deals with third party franchises. Microsoft's console business doesn't get the same funds for bidding wars anymore, so they have to be a lot more selective than in the past.

In other words, since Xbox isn't really a defensive measure anymore, Microsoft's willingness to spend money on gaming has decreased.

Actually I am not so sure if the xbox has lost more importance than MS is looking at the whole division in a different way.  what I mean by this is that MS want want Apple has which is a consumer pressence.  They also want to leverage their backend products like Azure to be the forfront tech for delivering content, which also include games.  The thing is, I believe a lot of gamers are holding on to much to consoles as they are today but that is a very limited vision.  The key for MS, Sony and Nintendo is to make sure they can deliver their content on any device.  Sony started with PS Now, Not sure what Nintendo is doing but I am sure they are doing something and MS is doing it with Azure.  I still feel that your TV console system will be there in another generation but i also feel that with current technology, people will be able to easily stream PS4 quality graphics to their TV from their Phone/ Tablet or some streambox.  

It really would be silly for any of these companies not to see the shift in how consumers want to consume their entertainment.  MS defintely want a box underneath the TV because their major competitors are still making such boxes like Google and Apple.  MS does not just compete with Sony and even Sony best not consume theirselves just looking at MS or Nintendo.  The market is exploding which gaming devices but the company that is ready to take charge in the near future will reap the rewards.