Sooo, you're saying Xbox hasn't been building their business before this next gen? And they're only starting now? Well, what a lucky timeline for us. As they say, 4th time's the charm.

Very lucky. I'm glad we agree that the approach of constantly moneyhatting various developers that aren't actually under your umbrella, and empowering idiots who mismanage half the teams that are under your umbrella - which wasn't many to begin with - isn't exactly an expanding enterprise. 

My outlook for the Switch weren't predictions, they were feeble hopes and I stated so multiple times. And yes, I still hope it'll never reach 100m, despite it looking less and less likely.

My current belief that Xbox won't do much is based on data from the past 3 generations of Xbox, i.e. the only data there is. It would be stupid to think that we'd see a sudden shift when that has never happened before and when the Playstation brand is as strong as ever. If it turns out differently, cool, but that's not what experience has taught us.

I get that it's tough to get a full grasp of my actual leanings when I regularly shit on every platform, including PC, mobile, Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo. People rarely get to see all of them at once because they only walk among their own echo chambers. I also give props where it is due. For example I have a lot more respect for Xbox's business model than any other console, well, minus the paid online. I hate Sony a lot more than Xbox. The fact that I would never buy an Xbox is more of a testament to the things I like about them than anything else. They're the only console that doesn't force me to buy it.

People who react to me as if I was a fanboy or foeboy only reveal their own biases.

Sorry, but I've heard just too many times the beautiful phrase of "We are pumping so many resources in acquiring 1st party games, but please be patient because making games takes years". Well, many years have passed and nothing happened, so excuse me if I don't have much confidence in anyone claiming the exact thing right now.

As for the sudden shift, I don't see it. If anything the X360 showed how much weaker their brand is compared to Playstation. If I get a 90m head start in a 100m dash against Usain Bolt and finish a millisecond behind him, that doesn't mean I'm suddenly close to equal with him. No, it highlights even more how great Bolt is by still being able to win with such a handicap. Not only had the 360 a massive head start, every sale after it was basically compound interest due to a more competitive base and so many more people already jumping on it because there was no alternative. XSX doesn't have a massive head start this time and it looks like prices of both are gonna be competitive. PS5 is even in a way better position that the PS4 was since it is able to leverage a substantial fanbase and reconfirmed trust by consumers.

X1 once again confirmed that even coming from the strongest position they ever had, they couldn't capitalize on it. Why? Because they did not have any competitive 1st party offerings. They couldn't even be arsed to do it when they most needed it, so why would anyone believe that right now that suddenly is going to change? The hope for XSX to turn things around is about as feeble as my hope for a failed Switch.

I wish nothing more than Xbox completely crushing Playstation into oblivion, but I just can't see it.

Not sure what XSX has to do with it. But, yeah, they gotta deliver the games. Nobody is going to stay subbed to Gamepass long term if they only add one good exclusive a year.

They had opened a lot of studios and even TV/Movie ones this gen and we didn't see anything but closures.

In the past MS had brilliant console exclusives through partnerships which was a major factor in my ownership of the OG Xbox and 360. The lack of 1st party teams was really not noticable back then. 

Xbox- Knights of the Republic, Jad Empire, Fable, Morrowind, Halo (Dreamcast titles which werent on PS2/GC like Shemnue, Jet Set Radio)

360 started out extremely strong. In the second half of 2007 alone they had Mass Effect, Bioshock & Halo as exclusives.

I think people have forgotten how distinct of a gaming space Xbox used to be, particularly for western RPGs. 

Its only post 2009 that things really started to slow down and developers like Bioware who mostly operated in a PC/Xbox space started to go multiplatform.

It will be another year or 2 before we start seeing the fruits of their current aquisitions

When has Nintendo ever had 7 months with no first party game? If we are counting both handhelds and home consoles I don't think ever?

And to not count both is something I don't agree with because more than Sony and way more than Microsoft, Nintendo has had to split it's software divisions in half to satisfy gamers on both platforms. Now, with the Switch and going forward with a unified platform, that has even less of a chance of happening.

I know this is mostly off topic, but I don't get the shot taken at Nintendo in the op. Can you give me some years in which there were 7 month droughts of no first party games from them? Maybe I'm wrong.

Nintendo proves that power doesnt matter nearly as much as people seem to think.
What matters is the effort you put into makeing the games (which is the "main" issue xbox one had, not its power).

Haveing more powerfull hardware wont magically make games better to play,
they might not even make them better looking (if your not useing it, its just wasted).