Thanks. I only know that the PS3 started turning a profit in 2010, and I assume they'll keep selling them for another four (or more) years, like they did with the PS2.

Wining console wars only matters on gameing forums

There is less than a 2 million difference right now with the Wii U in the lead.  And that's with a year headstart for the Wii U.  Nintendo has also had many first party titles (2 Mario titles plus a DLC retail title, Pikmin, W101, MK8, DK, a LOZ port, at least 3 Wii brand games), as well as a price cut and numerous bundles and other free games incentives and by comparison prior to this price cut for the ONE, they've had Titanfall and the Titanfall bundle as the only noteworthy release.  Not to mention the ONE being $200 more.  

And while it's fine to celebrate the last 2 weeks with Nintendo taking second, that wasn't the case at all for most of the weeks since the ONE was released.  It sold better than a console with a year head start, that was $200 cheaper, and has not received much software support.  I think it's damn good on the part of the ONE that it's managed with that many handicaps.  Now with the pricedrop, it's going to erase any difference that MK8 made on it.  

MS made the mistake of announcing a price cut weeks in advance, of course that will hurt sales for the weeks leading up to it.  

Also WD is not to the ONE as MK8 is to Wii U.  WD is an unproven new franchise and the other is one of the top Nintendo franchises. 

I will tell you the hardware itself only recently started making a profit and Shudio quote for that is here but that is console alone. http://ca.ign.com/articles/2010/06/28/ps3-profitable-price-cut-unlikely  

I sadly seem to be unable to find the really great thread someone use to do back in the day, but while this thread contains bias in my opinion in the reason it was created, I will say that this does showcase the idea of how much they could have lost: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=158930

Basically the key concept is: They made HUGE loss in the beginning and started have profit later on the generation (Harder to tell how much profits was made because after 2009 I believe they merged a bunch of divisions into one), however the HUGE loss isn't really recoverable at that stage. However I will say Sony did an amazing job saving the brand for the future. 

I'll take your word for it, but at the same time I highly doubt Sony will have ended up with a huge loss, especially when you consider that the PS3 helped cement bluray as a format and sold tons of titles over its lifespan.

Either way, we may never truly know.

In the point of the company, a console only fail if it just can't make money. In this case, we can use as an example the PS3, that made Sony to have big loses, about 4 billion, so that is a fail.

While I agree Blu-ray success was caused by PS3, I don't think that format winning helped sony all that much sadly.  I will say that the PS3 is my favorite home console from last generation in the end, but business wise I do consider it a loss. (DS being my favorite device)

I consider a lot of business decisions sony did during that period, not to be that great. I just hope that pieces that are horrible will be dead and gone soon.

Also I think Nintendo will be back in the green as well. How much in the green remains to be seen and if they will be. 

Robert A. Heinlein said it best:

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

The 360 failed to outsell the PS3, which in turn failed to outsell the Wii.

PS2s games library says hello, clearly the spoils of war and victory are well worth it.