"360 lucky to sqeeze by Wii for 2nd"

You do realize that profit and marketshare mean far more to companies then total sales mean to us right?

If total sales mattered then MS could have easily dropped their 2008 prices to remain on top. 360 gained tremendously compared to its predecessor and is in full profit mode.

If X1 makes a profit and only sells 40 million lifetime, that alone is reason enough to make another Xbox successor.

maybe, why don't you wait at least how the xbox one will do and ask the same questions in let's say 4 years?

Well, the way things are going right now, i wouldn't be surprised if it was. But then again, they had a '180' on their policies, to avoid that future.

We'll see i guess. It's safe to say though, that the Xbox One will not repeat the degree of succes the 360 enjoyed.

That is entirely up to Microsoft.

They have so much money they could endure losses in video game division for next decade no problem.

At least the last one you'll ever see...

nope MS is not going anywhere.... Sony will be bankrupt before MS ever withdraw from our living room.... the very future of MS as a whole relies on their predominance in the future of the living room.... once again they are not as much competing with Sony and Nintendo than they are with google and apple to be the media center of the home of the future....
they need Xbox or the future box they will have to build a solid future proof ecosystem around other other OSs on other device.... they can't afford to not be in that market period.... so unless MS goes bankrupt they have no choice but to keep going....

and so far the past decade of console has been more profitable to MS than Sony and that's with a major abortion on one console and a massive hardware fiasco on the second....

You're right. It will probably far surpass the 360 :)

and not only am I convinced that the gap between PS4 sales and XB1 will be smaller than the 360 and PS3 canyon we had for a while, but I'm convinced it will have longer legs and a better appeal to a wider customer market than the PS4 the further we go in the life cycle of the consoles. with every price cut... if they keep steady the evolution to a full on global media box.... PS4 will be stuck in the gaming console market while MS will be fully surfing on the media entertainment box for everyone market, subsidizing the PS4, google TV/apple TV/roku, casual/family gaming market all in one box....

Like Nintendo with the Wii U, it's not about being on top, it's about being profitable and I do believe Microsoft will make money off the Xbox One (no matter if it is less or more successful than the 360) so I don't see any reason why they'd stop developing consoles if it makes them money.

Won't repeat does not mean it will surpass it! Like i said we'll see, but i wouldn't bet on that happening if i was you.