Who sold more? Who established a baseline for success the following gen? Yeah the 360 did really good, but all things considered Sony really shined the second half of that gen.

Don’t have that option on mobile.

I have to agree with almost everything in this article. The most logical combination for players at this point is two or all of the following: Nintendo, PlayStation, PC. I suppose if you have old Xbox and Xbox 360 games, it would be really nice to play them on the Xbox Series X. But Microsoft doesn't seem to be learning from the exclusives debacle of the eight gen.
I don't see myself ever getting an Xbox Series X. I'd rather save that money for a PS5 or gaming PC.

Crush is a strong word and I don't think that will happen. Sony will likely sell more units but Xbox will be more competitive this coming gen. Microsoft is rewriting the rules as well which I am glad for since I won't need the next Xbox and just play on PC. They get my money and I get to play their games. That said, PlayStation will be my primary platform next gen. We still need to see what they decide to do with their exclusives on PC beyond the rumoured Horizon.

Crushing or not, I got that the point of article is the question: "why bother buying an Xbox Series X system when you can just keep playing everything on your Xbox One or PC?"

To answer that. I wouldn't. Next year, if I've got some extra time, I want to have a go with Xbox and I'll buy the cheapest one available.

PS3 sold more but 80 million is a serious downgrade from the PS2's 150 million. The 360 saw a major upgrade in sales from the original XBox.

Both of them above ^^^

Yes, Microsoft is on the game software business. If you play on Xbox, they make money on hardware and the game. If you play on Win 10, you bought Win 10 and the game. They don't care.

We need to find out how to quantify Microsoft profit in another way instead of just xbox units sold.

But still, Playstation business (not only hardware) must be quantified by other numbers as well, such as subscriptions.

Usually when analysts try to understand this business, they just exclude Nintendo because it went on a totally different path. Xbox and PS sell the same product. Nintendo is running another business.

For example, it's hard to believe that a console gamer that generally buys Xbox/PS will skip them to go Nintendo only next gen. Nintendo also still lacks lots of multi-plat releases, it sells the weakest hardware specs and their tag prices are quite premium in comparison with current gen consoles releases. Among other basic differences, despite all its qualities, appeal and success.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 almost 2 to 1 in the United States. Even overall the 360 outsold the PS3 all the way until 2013 when the PS4 had launched. The PS3 definitely lost that generation, who cares Sony sold more Blu-ray players in the end (my brother in law picked up a PS3 for use as a bluray player, late in the generation). 

Technically Sony sold more PS3 than the Xbox 360, but it is kind of bizarre to call it winning to be behind for 7 years (even with no Xbox 360 sales in Japan and Asia) and then squeak out some sales after the generation has ended (the Last of Us basically).

launch aligned PS3 was always ahead of X360. And great jab on the BR player, your brother in law paid 300 USD for a BD player when he could have bought for 50 if he gone for a BD player only.

Are you going to do the opposite way and claim that most Xbox360 owners had to buy 4 systems so in fact PS3 outsold X360 4:1?

So, you bought a $199-$249 Blu-ray player when $50 options were readily available? Sure. Just like millions bought a $299 PS2 solely for DVDs when there were $50-$100 options available.

There are no if, ands, or buts, 360 came in last. Sony beat them with one less year on the market and, more importantly, fixed their mistakes to transition into the successful PS4 era.  This is the big difference between PS3 and XBO. While they may recover in the less brand loyal US, everywhere else MS's performance this gen in terms of games output has left them wanting. Sony made sure to end the PS3 on a high note, so people would want to stick with them.