Nintendo: Will They End Up Like Sega?

[Awesome]

Maybe it's because I haven't had any interest in the last few Nintendo consoles, but does anyone else think that Nintendo will eventually go the way of Sega and stop making their own hardware, with Mario and other Nintendo characters/games being released/re-released on other consoles and PC?

Obviously this would leave the battlefield to Microsoft and Sony at this point, but hasn't it mostly been that way for years anyway?

[Adampro123]

I may be wrong but i think Nentendo made a shit ton of money and sold the most consoles so i don't expect them to go away from making consoles anytime soon.

[RyPrax]

Wii – 96.56 million as of 30 June 2012
Xbox 360 – 67.2 million as of 31 March 2012
PlayStation 3 – 63.9 million as of 31 March 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars#Worldwide_sales_figures_6

[Awesome]

Okay, I see your points - though I did use the qualifier "eventually".

[RyPrax]

You're not totally wrong, their sales have fallen in the last couple of years. I think their userbase is growing up and "graduating" to PS3 and 360 slowly, but that's why they're releasing the Wii U. That's going to be the big test I think, because they're essentially promising an adult system, while the other two companies are trying to gear some of their content to families, so it's an interesting dynamic.

I wrote this about Nintendo falling to third a long time ago, before the Wii U was announced. Wonder if it's still relevant:

Nintendo Falls to Number 3: Wii Didn't See This Coming | Better With Popcorn

[Rhymin' Greiman]

Nintendo has been dead to me for a pretty long time.  The N64 was the last Nintendo console I owned more than 10 games on.  Gamecube was a failure to me (even though I still enjoyed the hell out of Animal Crossing) and the Wii will NEVER make it's way into my collection.

The Super Nintendo will still reign as one of my all-time favorites though as it houses at least 50% of my favorite games.

[Adampro123]

Yeah when it comes to me personally i haven't really had any interest in their consoles since the N64. i never had a gamecube but did lover Resident evil 0 and Resident evil 4 on it when my cousin brought it over. i didn't really like anything on the wii. it was nice for light fun around a group of people but thats about it for me even though they did have some games i had interest in (Mario galaxy 1 and 2, new super mario brothers, the latest zelda game and the kibry game) the wii U doesn't appeal to me either. that controller seems huge and i still am not sure how it's supposed to work.

[RyPrax]

Yeah when it comes to me personally i haven't really had any interest in their consoles since the N64. i never had a gamecube but did lover Resident evil 0 and Resident evil 4 on it when my cousin brought it over. i didn't really like anything on the wii. it was nice for light fun around a group of people but thats about it for me even though they did have some games i had interest in (Mario galaxy 1 and 2, new super mario brothers, the latest zelda game and the kibry game) the wii U doesn't appeal to me either. that controller seems huge and i still am not sure how it's supposed to work.

For what it's worth the Wii U has a regular controller too. It's basically a vita with an external hard drive. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Nintendo doesn't have the first party developers to keep up with MS and Sony, and the third party support seems more ironic than anything. Why would I buy a Wii U to play a year old game like Arkham City or Mass Effect 3? The only coup they seem to have gotten is Bayonetta 2. So basically, I'd be paying more than what it costs to buy a PS3 or 360 right now for equal graphics.

[chappers]

I don't think the Gamecube or the Wii are particularly bad consoles, however, they don't hold a candle on Microsoft and Sony's past two outings (perhaps not the original Xbox), particularly this current crop of consoles and their dominance in the online market field. If Nintendo can compete with Microsoft and Sony online I would be more inclined to buy their console, however, it looks like they are playing catch up once again...

[RyPrax]

Buying exclusives is not the way to go though, I'm pretty pissed they bought a Bayonetta sequel and I'm not even a big fan of the game:

Buying Exclusives Like "Bayonetta 2" Is Not The Right Move For Nintendo and the Wii U | Better With Popcorn