I couldn't have described it better, you nailed it. While the PS2 died and the PS3 bled money non-stop, PSP saved Playstation division.

Sony invested billions in CELL. It didn't pay off. They didn't use it in PS4 or even a newer version. They just abandoned it. Rightfully so. Ken was forced out because of the CELL failure. I've heard rumors but maybe someone can find better evidence of this. Sony might have considered selling off the gaming division in 2007-08.

I would say Microsoft succesfully recovered from an awful launch and the Xbox One was financially sucessful. Xbox One was pretty lackluster in mega hits and generational games. If anything they overachieved compared to what they had to offer.

I think the failure during the Xbox One generation will give way to their best generation yet with Xbox Series of console.

Yeah I agree with you. 

At the beginning they had an unflattering and badly thought through product which sold primarily on the merits of its predecessor. The product which Don Mattrick launched back then failed. They had some good games, arguably (with hindsight) better games at launch than Sony had. Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall (2014), Killer Instinct, Ryse and Dead Rising. But that initial vision crashed hard. Sony delivered massively over the next 12 to 24 months where Microsoft suffered from a confused and often anti-consumer strategy and very little effort to reconcile themselves with what their players wanted. Xbox One versions of games were often substantially less performant than PS4 versions. The controller had stick drift and durability problems with the bumpers/shoulder buttons. The lifeless OS also made sure you felt alone, if your list of "Offline" friends hadn't done so already. 

After the back-compat announcement in 2015, things started to turn around. You had Ori, Forza Motorsport 6 being everything that 5 should have been. Forza Horizon 2 was excellent, then Gears of War and Halo firmly on the console by 2016, albeit with weak offerings compared to past entries. By 2017 you had a compelling product in the form of the very attractive One S and very impressive One X hardware, with, ironically, much better media features like 4K support and HDR than the "tv, tv, tv" original. 

From the 2021 perspective, in the One S and X you've got a piece of affordable hardware which is widely supported by modern games and delivers a half-decent 30fps experience (with only a handful of exceptions). You've also got the riotous success that is Xbox game pass, the evolution of which is intrinsically linked to the failure to ship as many consoles as they hoped, and represents a pivot to a new strategy to profit in a competitive industry by increasing engagement and therefore spending from each customer on their books. You've got 4K netflix and amazon, a blu ray drive and quiet operation. As a console the One also cultivated some excellent exclusives towards the end of its life, Halo Wars 2 and Sea of Theives and State of Decay 2, and of course Forza Horizon 4. The Master Chief collection also finally flourished on the console after a long redemption story. 

This makes it a partial success. They turned a profit like you say. They're in business. They fixed their mistakes and won back goodwill from me, and I'm sure many others as well. Their final product was also, at the end of the day, a really fun machine where you can play excellent games at an excellent price. Yet none of this changes the fact that the One consoles represent a strategic blunder which has cost MS a large chunk of market share. 

Depends. Are we classifying success in terms of "winning" the console war? If so, then no. If we're talking turning a dollar for its parents company, or pushing forth a service that will in turn, bring in a profit in the future, then yes. I would say it was successful.

Either way, they should get credit for grabbing the last inch of a shipping ocean liner and hauling it back out. Seriously. Xbox One, in its original form, was pretty much a complete disaster. The fact that it became what it became at the end of its life is a freakin' miracle for them, imo.

If it was profitable... And it clearly was, then it was a success.

Just because it sold less than the device it succeeded, doesn't mean it failed... Conversely, just because a console sells more, doesn't mean it's a success either if it was never profitable.

Succes? NO
Failure? NO
Xbox one is a weird console. Not great but not bad neither.
Few exclusives, but some great ones (Forza,Ori,Halo,etc) Mayority of the important Third party games (Cod,battlefield, assasins creed,etc) very good BC and the inclusion of Gamepass.
Im happy with my Xbox, but the 8th generation could be a lot better.

why even ask the question haha!
everybody and their grandma knows what xboxone was...

Well, it would seem not everyone agrees, just within this thread we have a range of different opinions and explanations for both sides. It's certainly within the realm of being debatable. 

Why don't they show the figures this gen considering its the fastest selling Xbox consoles in Xbox history? They must be hiding something huh? or maybe that's because their business model changed from hardware sales to a service.. but lets not look into that side of things because that would ruin the console wars.

Fun fact, the XB1 lost less money than both the OG and 360 consoles. Odd what people consider a success.