[sshumaker]

No, Xbox has largest market share in the gamer community period, with > 25 million units shipped worldwide. And they will be profitable overall on their gaming unit by the time this console generation is over (2015?).

Nintendo is operating in a different market. They are a toy company, first and foremost. And it's better, conceptually, to think about the Wii and DS as toys. They have a completely different audience - and completely different revenue model. People buy toys for a short-term entertainment value, or novelty - and then the novelty wears off.

This describes the Wii exactly - people buy one, they play a game or two, or maybe Wii fit, and that's it. You aren't seeing serious time spent with it - and the tie ratio demonstrates that.

BTW - I think I'd classify Guitar Hero / Rock Band as toys, too. Hence the horrible sales numbers this season - people are sick of this particular kind of toy.

[mckilljoy]

I'm not sure it is valuable to segment the market into those who buy "toys" and those who buy "hard-core games". At the end of the day, there is just one big market: the human population.

Yes, Microsoft sold 30 million Xboxs to "hard core gamers" and effectively conquered that market niche.

But, in the same time, Nintendo sold 50+ million Wiis to people who like "toys", making billions of dollars in the process.

As a hypothetical investor, I don't really care if Microsoft "wins" the hard-core market, I care about the bottom line. Nintendo effectively created a new market and capitalized on it, and they would get my hypothetical dollar.