Interesting thread this. What stands out is how people sit on the spectrum of understanding the changes to Microsoft as a business in the last 5 years. A lot of what people are saying is correct, just for different moments in time.
I'm with those who highlight MS are preparing for a much bigger war across multiple fronts here, and Amazon, Google and potentially Apple will be participants in it. These companies are all about integrated ecosystems, partnering subscription content with hardware offer. MS are bulking up on content creation as a key part of their differentiation, which is a significant change to the past where studios were acquired on a checklist basis.
For those that watch F1, the phenomenon of using the current season to prep for next year once the immediate battle looks clear shouldn't be alien, that's what MS are doing.
My prediction would be in 10 years time Nintendo don't make hardware and Sony have had to radically alter their business model (if they're a player at all, but they do have massive regional brand equity to play with).
I'm a consumer, so to hell with it, more competitors is good for us!
