Japanese companies are not funded primarily through the stock market like American companies are. This means they do look at profits but not quarterly or even yearly. An American company faces intense pressure to make a profit every quarter sometimes cutting good ideas off to make numbers or pulling revenue forward (sometimes artificially) to make wall street targets.

Japanese companies use bonds more often then stock (long term contracts for funding with interest). This means they look over a 12 year instead of 12 month horizon in many cases. That is why Sony has an easier time sticking with things that don't pay off right away (the whole playstation brand) vs many American companies that have to pull products that don't hit right away within months.

Microsoft is a bit of an exception to this rule because they have a monopoly in two places (office software and OS) that they can get nearly unlimited revenue from which subsidizes the losses of their other projects thus making them resistant to the 3 quarter rule. If either of those streams of unlimited profit go away though, you will see the american product reality set in rather quickly. It may seem strange, but the Xbox systems existence depends almost entirely on the success of Windows 7 and Office 2010. If the billions they lost on the project isn't just a rounding error on sales of office/windows in the future the stock price system will force the Xbox out.

On the other hand its hard to see Sony being forced out unless the whole company goes under. Electronic entertainment is what they do, its not just a hobby with extra money they have lying around from selling Office software. Electronics being seen as vital to Sony is also part of why their electronics are so much better made then the thrown together stuff in the 360. The difference between the 360 and PS3 is the difference between a side project and the essential focus of your business. A little more care goes into the latter to be sure.