Edit. What' More important to you hardware sales or the comapny making a profit?  "Its too easy to mess up the title arrg"

Its been a very confusing generation to tell what matters more to the gamers online.

I can understand why people think that a games systems install base leads to great third party exclusives due to what occured the last two generations.

I can also understand why some look at profits due to the fact that companies will be able to produce more games or better quality games with an increased profit.

My opinion as a PSwii60 owner is that profit seems to be more important as it should provide in a stronger industry regardless of which of the Big three is leading.

How about a both? Nintendo has managed that with out too much of a problem. In the end though, profit is always more important, because if you don't make a profit then you won't be able to invest in future technology and eventually run yourself bankrupt.

Edit:The more that ur hardware sells the more profit u will recive, so companies tend to focus on HW sales for that reason

both is very nice to have but last gen GC had the least hardware sales yet walked off with a ton of profit. meanwhile Xbox slightly beat them in hardware but walked off with a huge profit loss. and we all know the Ps2 is still making profit to this day despite what the ps3 did to its early cash.

Sony essentially had both last generation too. While they may not have made as much as Nintendo, Nintendo was also riding the profits of the GBA.

I'm just hoping that the current hardware numbers don't discourage sony from green lighting. as many first party games, and that nintendo would start green lighting more first party games. Considering all that cash they have we should't have to wait for mario, zelda and samus to show up to get excited the have the cash to make some more new ip's with lower risk due to wii dev cost being lower.

Console sales are what is important to me. For example, I could careless if MS/sony/Nintendo makes money on the 360/wii/ps3, as long as there are enough out there then others will make games for it and that means the console is enjoyable to own.

On the other hand, it doesnt matter how much something has sold if there is little software to run on it. This is all in theory not in practice as Ive have not bought a wii game since Mario Kart despite the profitability and sales.

I agree profit is important. I hope the big 3 keep making profit.

Sales are easier to judge for me, because every system has a different price and games have different prices. It's just easier to judge that way for me.

Profit, hardware sales won't keep the companies in the industry on their own.