Furthermore, graphical capabilities have just gotten to a point where the game developers are begging the hardware producers to stop for a while. They simply can't afford the art costs to do anything higher definition than they already are. Sure, the devs would like some extra CPU cycles. And the designers would love a faster medium to remove loading restrictions. And the list of wants and asks will never be satisfied. But making AAA games cost boatloads of money. Every new console is a new burden on developers and they have spoken, loudly.
And do you mean profitable including the start up losses or profitable for those quarters only?
Wherever I go I see WIIs, Xboxes not so much any more.
They're still being sold in record numbers but WII outsells xbox by a comfortable margin.
And you can't use Wii for pretty much anything else. Surely you could "buy" a browser with Wii-points (if they haven't made it free already). But the web-browsing experience is also pretty lame. And you can't use it to watch movies.
So I bought a Wii because it was cheaper at the time (not anymore). But you won't catch me buying any games for it. I just borrowed some games I didn't like and now it's just sitting there ... and from time to time when a friend comes I just take out the free "Wii Sports" that came bundled with it.
If Wii really outsels Xbox it doesn't say much because they target different markets.
WII hit the sweet spot and sold an enormous number of units in a very short time, and for a very large number of those one xbox less was sold.
As for the Wii, it's a great product, but it is fundamentally a differet market and business model. Nintendo makes money on hardware sales. They have a low attach rate of primarily 1st party games. Microsoft makes money on royalties. Xbox had an unprecidented high attach rate with significant 3rd party profit sharing. Xbox LIVE is also a hearty subscription business.
I agree that nintendo has a different business model, but I think there is significant overlap between the markets, in other words I would expect xbox sales and wii sales to be competing at least in part for the same dollars.
Or is it a documented fact that those that own a wii buy xboxes later on ?
If you are thinking in terms of making products at a loss just for the heck of it then you are no longer competitive, you're already on the way down, it's just that the ground is still a long way off.
I doubt that's their real perspective. But the eagerness with which a 6 billion loss and a 7 year losing streak gets polished away with 'in a few years we'll be in the black' is quite amazing. I wouldn't be too proud of that.
The way these things get spun we'll probably never know the truth though. Nobody seems to like to admit to failure, even when it is blatantly obvious to the rest of the world. Zune anyone ?