Feel you are grasping and trying to make a point where there isn't one
360 did a lot more than ok, especially compared to "ps2, xbox" no one could say it was a wrong move unless you have some other idea behind it other than business.
xbox sold something like 20 something million in its life time and 360 is over 80. So, where did it not work? took out the huge difference between ps2 and xbox.
No, i'm not talking about what worked for the 360. The 360 is a tremendous success for the industry itself, especially with all of the system features it streamlined. However, after the initial attempts in the first 4-5 years of the 360's lifecycle in attempting to siphon away some of the niche marketshare the PS platform has built-up over the decades (we saw this whenever MS locked down or outright published/developed non-western titles, or when they worked with 3rd parties to ensure the Xbox was not skipped as a platform), we saw MS turn away from focusing on diversifying their platform's audience base and instead focused on the Kinect.
Had the PS3 launched both in the same quarter as the 360, and at a better price as the PS3 did, there is no doubt the 360's early success would've been mitigated to a large degree. Heck, even in terms of figures, when we launch align the two console's sales, we see how the WW audience kept the PS3 in the race & it kept the platform relevant in the eyes of 3rd party.
The end result of all this is a platform where, no matter how well it can manage to sell in the US & UK, the delta in WW sales, and the non-efforts in extending the niche audience for software genres in the markets they are successful in, have resulted in sub-par new IP launches as well as a 2:1 lead for its biggest competitor, even though they've been sold underpriced for a year & a half now.
