Going by total sales of all 3 systems, I'd say they're succeeding,

Very informative thread so far. Will come back later for more.

Wait.. someone actually thought that Nintendo didn't get surplus during GC era? ( and that without the GB).... wow

lol @ the conversations going on in this thread

some people in here are on MLD's nuts HEAVY! lol

i would've joined in on some of this loveliness if my connection was better at the moment but whatever though..

It isn't whether the PS4 or XBox 720 will get third party support, it is the amount of exclusive third party support they will be able to secure that can cause the problems ...

Essentially, consider what would have happened if the Wii launched in 2004 and didn't face any negative consequences from launching so soon after the Gamecube. At the end of 2006, a year after the XBox 360 launched and soon after the PS3 launched, the Wii would be sitting at over 40 million units sold, the XBox 360 would have sold 8 million units, and the PS3 would have sold 2 million; to what extent do you think this would have impacted third party support from then on?

With that said, the mistakes of the PSP were that Sony focused to heavily on making a portable PS2 rather than a superior handheld and this resulted in a system that was too expensive and wasn't strong in traditional handheld games.

Sony Pictures lost 4.9 billion Yen ($63 million) for Q1 2012 on revenue of $1.9 billion. 

That included MIB 3 in that quarter which has the same budget and grossed the same amout globally as The Amazing Spider-Man just did.   Q1 also had 21 Jump Street which had a budget of $42 million and grossed over $200 million.   But Sony had a big flop this last quarter: Total Recal whcih grossed just $58 million on a $125 million budget.

If Sony lossed money during the quarter that had both MIB 3 and 21 Jump Street, I don't see how Sony could do better in Q2 with Spider-Man (same budget and gross as MIB3 ) and a big flop (Total Recall).

Total sales only tells so much.  When you sale your console at a loss you lose money and then rely on software.  Sony lost billions on the PS3.  Xbox lost a lot as well on the RROD, they have more income though due to XBL but all in all systems sold is pointless beyond a console war

Not talking about profit. Talking about relevance. If they're fightint to stay relevent, I'd say they're doing a decent job at it.

Can I ask where these stories about burning through all their ps2 profits came from? I do remember reading an article last year saying after the price drop here in europe they were making losses on the system again. If what people are saying is true that doesn't sound successful to me. Sales figures might be high but if they really are losing all this money then it sounds more like its a failure.

Sonys sales in third should be considered graceful. They are selling more in third than the Xbox and Gamecube sold combined last gen against the PS2.