That kid with abandonment issues that tries to bribe classmates to stay a little while longer by promising them candy, but instead of that kid it's Microsoft, and instead of candy it's gravel.
That's similar to what I thought their Xbox strategy was. The rich kid buys an entire store because he has no idea how to prepare things for a party(i.e., make games). Now he owns the store (which is profitable tbf) but he still has no idea how to throw a party (i.e., Xbox games like Halo are still dead and they still don't have a good play test strategy the way Sony or Valve does so they keep releasing broken games). Xbox over the years slowly lost the formula to making great games to poor corporate management.
You're making a mistake in your line of thought there- the intention was never to throw a great party, the intention was ever only to make money. And that party is bouncing hard since the 90's...