In total seriousness, this is nothing, Microsoft will keep the Xbone around for the long haul.Strelok said:Had a feeling they would be the first to bow out of consoles, who am I kidding, I couldn't wait for it. Though I didn't think we would start seeing the major signs this fast.
Microsoft had to write off almost $1billion on unsold Surface tablets last year, blew $7billion buying Nokia then immediately lost another $700million in operating losses since then.
Once all the subscription, licensing fees and game/accessory sales are added together it's usually touted that each games console sold generates about $1000 of income for the manufacturer over it's lifespan (except Nintendo). Since the Xbone has shifted 5 million and rising units I doubt Microsoft are losing too much sleep over $400million when they're expecting $5billion and rising in income over the next five years (although that's gross income not profit).
By way of comparison, Sony are rumoured to have lost as much as $5 billion on the PS3 in it's first three years (at one point PS3's were being sold at a loss of $300 each), whilst Microsoft lost around $3billion on hardware development of the 360, plus an unspecified but possibly even larger amount thanks to the RRoD and replacing roughly half to two thirds of all the 360s made in the first three years.
The hilarious costs of last gen is a big reason why this gen are basically laptops with the screen cut off, compared to six years ago $400 million on a new hardware launch is nothing.