[zinekeller]

Same for Xbox being (initially) seen as a deadweight to Microsoft. Microsoft is not even looking beyond office and enterprise when Nintendo and Sega were the players in the game console industry, but when Sony launched PlayStation (and the associated threat of a Sony-connected home entertainment and productivity system basically preventing Microsoft from selling Windows at home users), Microsoft just launched Xbox to counter PlayStation.

[WorldMaker]

Yes, but it's also weirder than that, because Microsoft was a hardware and software partner with Sega on the Dreamcast. Microsoft was hoping to keep the three-horse race between Nintendo, Sega, and Sony in tact by offering support for things that Sega had ceased operating in house. The Xbox may not have existed at all if Sega hadn't been trying to cut corners and outsourcing random bits of Dreamcast hardware/software to whoever would answer the call and Microsoft being in the weird spot where they felt like they had to answer that call.