Why should they? Profits from its E&D division, responsible for its xbox line, are a drop in the pond compared to its perennial cashcows, its OS and MS Office division. The E&D division even made a loss of $229 million in 2012. Microsoft must realize that gaming as it was in the past isn't a particularly lucrative market now - their response isn't to jump ship, but expand their target audience - taking a page out of Nintendo's book by appealing to consumers with a less gaming-centric outlook. (Worldwide, the Wii outsold both the PS3 and 360) The Xbox One is clearly catering toward a more casual audience - as we saw with the emphasis on non-gaming features at the Xone's reveal, and by doing so - if they succeed in their stated objective - to become the average American household's entertainment hub, they stand to gain far more than they do if they stuck with the status quo to appease their current audience; hence the perceived shafting of gamers. MS knows that there will always be the casual gamers who play COD, FIFA, etc. that won't be overly concerned with the changes; and the average household won't be as adverse to splashing out $500 on the Xbox One if it grows into the product MS anticipates it will be. All the criticism levelled at them (Kinect, DRM, used games, the name itself) won't dissuade a more casual audience from purchasing the One. Of course, this may all backfire on them and the Xone may crash and burn; however, they do have an extremely fat profit margin that cushions the blow. Sony has most likely persisted with a gaming-centric outlook because they don't have as large a safety net to fall on - I haven't researched figures for Sony, but its safe to say they don't have half as large a contingency as MS does. TL;DR: MS is turning away from the gaming status quo because xbawks profits are not satisfactory; and moving towards the more profitable casual market.